


Kings and Queens

by BeaDeM0



Category: Good Girls (TV)
Genre: F/M, Realistic, Sexual Tension, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-31
Updated: 2018-10-07
Packaged: 2019-07-04 23:42:25
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 15
Words: 48,585
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15851838
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BeaDeM0/pseuds/BeaDeM0
Summary: Set post episode 10, season one, we get to see Beth blossom and come into her own as the BOSS lady that she really is...





	1. Kings and Queens - Part One

**Author's Note:**

> I've been so impressed with the quality of writing that I've read on here that I was tempted enough to write my own! It's my first ever post here, & my first ever fan-fiction, but Beth & Rio have so much chemistry I had to write something! I hope it reads okay for you guys <3
> 
> All errors & typos are my own so please excuse them! x

She stood tall and straight, her feet instinctively slightly apart, grounding her as she held the golden gun in her palms, aiming it at Rio, her finger over the trigger.

Her fear of being killed by Rio, of seeing the father of her children being killed by Rio, dissipated with the feel of the cold metal in her hands.

The room was silent and tense as she took a shallow breath in, her eyes locked on Rio’s, neither of them giving anything away.

“I ain’t got all night, sweetheart.” Rio was still leaning back in the dining chair, casually, seemingly totally at ease, not afraid of her, and definitely not afraid of Dean whose arms were tied behind his back.

Dean was frantically eyeing Beth with the half of his face that wasn’t swollen and bloody, twitching his head towards Rio, silently telling her to shoot. Telling her to kill. Beth ignored him.

“Well?” Rio’s tone was expectant.

“I don’t want to be you.” Her voice was steadier this time, her tears had stopped and she almost spat the rest of her sentence out. “I don’t want to be a King.”

The gun had calmed her, given her a feeling of power but she was trying to think, trying to understand why Rio had turned the tables on her.

Rio simply laughed. “Nah, sweetheart? Then what’s all this about? I let you go an’ you turn me in? I did your lily-ass a favour lettin’ you go cos you can’t keep your cool. An’ if you’re not level-headed sweetheart, you have no place in this business. I did you a favour, an’ I don’t do favours, an’ you repay me by turning me in?”

Beth swallowed, confused, his words registering. Had she got it wrong? Rio saw her eyes cloud over, saw the doubt in her expression. He could read her like an open book. His own eyes narrowed at her, he understood now; she really believed he was going to kill her.

“I was a rotten egg. You were going to dispose of me. You were going to dispose of us all.”

“Is that so?” Rio cocked his head to one side looking at her lazily.

As they stared at each other, Beth realised that he had actually let her go.

He had let her and the girls step away from being involved with his business, just exactly as Annie and Ruby had wanted back in the park, when they had only been washing $100K. It had been Beth who had surprised everyone by asking for more cash.

But for Beth, robbing the grocery store and dealing with Rio and his men in her house, in this very room, it had awoken something in her. Something that had always been there, but hidden. She hadn’t wanted to let that go, that feeling of power. That stepping out of line. And maybe, if she was truly honest with herself, maybe she didn’t want to lose her contact with Rio. There was something about him, something about their interaction. There was an energy between them that had been building. He was teaching her so much about herself, about power, about how to live and work in the shadows and she had been drinking everything in, greedily.

Her connection to him, her rapport with him, began not when he approached her after his faux attempt at tutoring Kenny, though she’d seen him look down at her body, appraising her, which made her feel strangely powerful, that she, a suburban Mom could make him look, it both slightly aroused and horrified her that she felt a stirring within.

No, it wasn’t then that she acknowledged the connection, it was in the warehouse when she realised he wasn’t part of an unorganised and low level street gang. He was a serious professional. He was smart, savvy and organised. He held a tight reign on his empire of many and to see him at the helm, in control of everything, talking with respect to his employees, being respected by his employees, it was then she felt the real stirring. She had found him undeniably attractive.

He may have been street with his lingo and attitude and his ability to not show any emotion but the man revealed himself in subtle ways. He liked to pair his smart button up shirts with his hoodies that he wore half-on-half-off, he had a thing for discreet white gold chains, he ogled her marble splash-back, her island countertop, he liked coffee first thing in the morning and tea from eleven onwards like a gentleman and he got so, so excited about food.

He was not some ‘nickel bag’ man, whatever that meant. When she had thrown the keys in his face, she had instantly regretted it, even more so when he looked at her with his coal black eyes, so totally disappointed with her. He had never actually hurt or struck out at her. The light that was always in his eyes when he looked at her, when they were together, it disappeared with the impact of the keys. She had made it disappear by losing her temper. He had approached her so calmly after picking the keys up and was so cold and deadly. He hadn’t raised his voice at her, he just looked at her like she was nothing at all to him and she couldn’t handle it.

She realised again then, all too late, what he was capable of and what he could and would actually do to her. What he would do to Ruby and Annie too.

But what if she had got wrong? What if he had just been letting her go? Doing her inexperienced, hot-headed and yes, lily-ass-self a favour by pushing her out before she got too far in. Because she proved that she couldn’t do a job properly. She cracked under pressure. She wasn’t good enough to be at the top because she lost her temper. She over-reacted. And then she realised, that this, the gun in her hand, beating Dean, it was just another test.

“Beth?” Dean’s voice, pained and ragged, broke her reverie and her eye contact with Rio. They had both momentarily forgotten he was there.

“Do it. End this Beth. We’ll say it was a break in."

“No break in if the door was open.”

Beth looked back at Rio. His eyes were still on her, unreadable, waiting for an answer.

“Beth.” Dean spoke again and something snapped in her.

The years of being told what to do. The years of being the perfect wife and mother, trying to ignore the fact that she no longer felt anything for the man she was married to. No desire, no love, no respect. It had disappeared when Danny arrived and Emma was the miracle result of the only night of sex Beth had had in six years. She had given Dean twenty years and four babies and what had he given back?

Oh, yes, the reason why she was in this situation in the first place. He had lost everything they had, he had cheated on her with a girl barely out of high school and he had lied about cancer to get back into the house. And she like a fool had started to trust him again. Her sympathises at his injuries cooled; he had fucking deserved a beating. She spoke cooly, the emotion having left her voice.

“Don’t tell me what to do Dean. We’re separated, remember? And I know you don’t have cancer, that was just a ruse to get back in the house. How low can you go, Dean?”

“But Bethy, he’s going to kill us.”

“No, he’s not. He didn’t kill you just now, when he could have, and he’s given his gun to me.”

Dean tried to speak but was interrupted by Rio laughing at them.

“Nah, this ain’t the time for a domestic. Honey, you gotta decide what to do.”

And just like that she did.

Beth looked at Rio emotionlessly. “I’m not going to kill you. And I’m not afraid of blood, I’m a woman. Women see blood all the time, we’re not afraid of it. But I am tired, as I’ve spent the last few days waiting for you or your boys to come for me, and I’m so done with it. I don’t know how this will end but it’s not going to end here. I damaged your business, but you damaged mine. Check-mate.”

With that she moved to the table and sat down, putting the gun down in-front of her.

Rio eyed her and sat upright, leaning on the table, stretching his hands out on the polished wooden surface in-front of him, his coal black eyes bright.

“Car-man.” Rio spoke calmly. “Go take yo’self upstairs, back to that bunk bed, clean up, keep quiet, make no noise or I’ll break the other side of that face. Yo’ ex-wife an’ me are gonna talk business.” Rio leant over to the back of Dean’s chair and roughly broke the tie, Dean winced but stood slowly.

“Beth?” Dean’s voice was hoarse but Rio looked up at him.

“Ain’t no need for you to talk to her, I think she’s done with you for now, don’t you?”

Dean shuffled by Beth, trying to catch her eye but Beth’s eyes remained glued on Rio.

They were both silent, waiting for Dean’s footfalls to go quiet, staring at each other. The air was thick and heavy between them.

“You caused me and my business a whole lot of damage. I did not expect to be screwed over by you.”

Beth pouted. “You were going to kill me.”

“But here you are, alive. With my gun, sizing me up.”

“It’s probably not even loaded.”

“Try it out.”

Beth swallowed, realising he had actually given her a loaded gun.

“I need a drink and you need to clean up.”

She stood and picked up the gun, putting it in her jacket pocket as she walked, slowly and measuredly into the kitchen, passing by him and side stepping the broken chair and debris of the fight. Everything that had been on the kitchen island was now lying on kitchen floor boards, but she ignored it all and went to get two glasses and her bottle of bourbon. She poured a shot in each and then got the first aid box out from under the sink. She put it on the counter by the bourbon, before getting ice from the fridge, wrapping it up in a clean cloth that she soaked under the sink tap. She then held it in her hand, waiting for him to join her in the kitchen.

Despite the gun being in her pocket, he walked up to her like she was prey, and got in her personal space, just as he always did. She held her ground, just as she always did, resisting the urge to step back. Up close she could see the damage to his face, his lip was cut, as was the right side of his forehead and his left cheek was grazed, bleeding and starting to swell a little. Slowly, gently, she raised the cloth packed with ice to his cheek and pressed it against his skin. He didn’t react to the impact but his jaw twitched slightly. He put his hand over hers and they said nothing for a minute. His hand felt warm and she bit her lip, feeling something deep inside, a warm glow that she wasn’t sure she could process now, so to distract herself, she looked at the first aid box and back at him.

He didn’t say anything so she slipped her hand from under his and moved to open the box, to get out antiseptic wipes. He walked to the other side of the island and sat on a stool so she followed him, standing in-between his legs as she cleaned up his face, gently wiping away the blood, following it with cream and then moving his hand with the ice wrap over what she had cleaned.  
Once his face had been wiped up, she set to his hands.

Neither of them spoke but as she worked, her body occasionally pressed against his, her soft and full breasts brushed against his hard chest, her thighs leaned against his. His eyes never left her face and she could feel the heat coming from them both. Up close he smelt so good to her, there was something in his sweat that was totally masculine, and slightly spicy, almost like woodsmoke.

When she was finally done with his hands she looked into his eyes. He lifted his hands to her face, she didn’t flinch or move, but felt the pads of his finger tips, as he wiped away the trace of her earlier tears, his thumbs gentle under her eyes, before tracing down her cheeks, to outline her lips and rest on her chin, cupping her face gently by the jawline in his hands.

Beth said nothing, unable to speak, her heart was thumping so hard inside her chest, scared, turned on, and despite having the gun in her pocket and despite feeling so powerful earlier, she now felt more exposed and vulnerable than she had ever felt.

“Check-mate, huh? So you don’t wanna be the King, you wanna rule with the King, take care of his business? You wanna be Queen beside me?”

Beth said nothing to him, still standing in-between his legs, her face in his hands, the air between them electric.

“Queen cleaned up pretty good.” Rio took his left hand off her face, looking at the bruises forming on his knuckles, admiring her tender work, before he looked back at her sharply. “But Queens still need to keep order in as else-wise, they do stupid shit. But that’s all part of bein’ at the top baby. Getting your hands dirty. Getting hauled in by the cops. You have it easier than my boys, with your white Mrs Cleaver act. You were never in any danger. You gotta trust me that I know what’s best for my business.”

She swallowed. “I didn’t know it was empty.”

“You think you’re a boss but you got a long way to go sweetheart.”

She tried to step back away from him but his hands were suddenly on her waist, pressing her to him, her face only inches apart from his. She instinctively put her hands on his shoulders to try and steady herself as he held her tight, his eyes boring into hers.

“You an’ your bitches are gonna have to think about where I can move my clean money now, to the tune of 200 G’s a week as you lost me a supermarket chain an’ a few other things from putting me in the spotlight. I gotta lay low now. You wanna be part of the business, well now you’re in it, you owe me a business, an’ you are gonna work with me ‘til I am paid back an’ satisfied that you ain’t ever gonna pull any of that shit on me again.”

Beth was breathing fast and furiously, her heart racing from the feel of his hard body pressed against her, his thighs squeezing her in an almost intimate way. His lean body was all muscle and if she hadn’t realised it before, she did now as she could feel it against her, and despite the situation, it felt so good. She tried not to register this, as his face was so close to hers and she felt dizzy with both anger at being told off and told what to do again and a carnal longing for him that she had tried not to register.

“Rio...”

He looked at her, his head tilted slightly in amusement and he licked his lower lip. “First time you said my name.”

She opened her mouth to speak but nothing came out, their eyes locked together.

“You wanna make up to me sweetheart, you’re gonna have to work harder than that. An’ as far as anyone knows, you an’ your bitches did not do this as none of you’d be allowed to live.” He swallowed and abruptly let her go, side-stepping from the stool and walking to the kitchen door, grabbing his hoodie where it had been thrown on the floor when he had gotten into the fight with Dean. He turned before he opened the door and looked her up and down as he used to, like she was something he wanted to strip and consume.

“I’ll be in touch tomorrow, early, as you’re gonna meet me an’ we’re gonna work on our new business. An’ Mama, your new business look,” he paused to lick his bottom lip. “It’s hotter than hell.”

And with that, Rio left the house and Beth leant against the kitchen island, trying to remember to breath, her heart was still beating so fast, her adrenaline so high. It took her a few minutes to compose herself and when she had, she walked to the other side of the island to the drinks, tipping one glass into the other and then bringing the drink in her shaking hand to her lips to sip.

Her hand went down to her jacket pocket absentmindedly, feeling for the gun, only it was gone. She took a deep breath in, he had taken it from her without her even realising it, she had been so consumed with him. She took another sip of her drink before exhaling loudly and looking around at all the mess.

First things first, she would have to clean up the chaos that Dean and Rio had created. She would also have to check on Dean, with an ice pack. With several ice packs. She wondered if he should visit his cancer Dr the next day, the one who was a lying scumbag like Dean, as he would surely know how to check to see if there was any serious damage to Dean’s broken face.

And with that thought, Beth realised maybe she did have a plan about how to launder 200 G’s of Rio’s cash.


	2. Kings And Queens - Part Two

She had received a text from an unknown number at eight the following morning telling her to be at a bar at 12 noon. It was in a part of town she didn’t really know well at all, and so gave the details to Annie too. They agreed that if Beth hadn’t been in touch by 13.00, that Annie would look for her.

Beth had ended up calling Annie an hour after Rio had gone, as she and Dean had had it out and he was wreck, both physically and emotionally. He thought he was protecting her, he thought that he and her were getting back together, and when he realised that despite his attempts to protect her, despite all he had done, Beth would not forgive him for the cancer story, he had broken down. Beth couldn’t bare to be alone with him in the house and so had called Annie. 

Annie had come over and helped her clean up the mess and she listened carefully to Beth’s ideas for a business for Rio. Neither of them could get hold of Ruby, so they could only hope that she would be okay with it.

Annie drove Dean in his car to his parents early to convalesce. Half his face had swollen over and the lying Dr told him he’d bruised his ribs but he would live. They could claim that the car crash was the reason for his injuries and no one would question it. 

Beth had been stoical as she and Annie had packed his things into the car before he left. He had been emotional and tried to talk to Beth but she remained distant, thanking him again for trying to protect her, and saying yet again how sorry she was for the beating he’d receieved, but her emotional distance made it clear that it was time for him to go.

Annie didn’t make any quips as she drove him away from what had been his family home, Dean was a broken and foolish man and his face was a testament to what Rio could do. Annie had swallowed when she saw him. They had totally underestimated Rio. He didn’t need a gun. And he had fancy lawyers to get him out of any situation. They had been foolish.

Beth dressed carefully when Annie and Dean had left. She did her usual make up and put on a black dress that had a green and gold etched pattern on it. It flattered her figure and colouring, made her look like she meant business and yet was softer than the outfit Rio had complemented the previous night. She wore understated black heels and a black jacket. 

She arrived early and checked herself out in the car mirror before stepping out and walking towards the bar. 

It was on the corner of a slightly run down and quiet street, and a little dark and shabby inside, with a long dark wood bar, floor and furniture. She looked around, expecting to see Rio there already at the bar, as he tended to be prompt but he wasn’t anywhere to be seen. There were three guys sat apart but at the bar, facing a TV screen in one corner and there were a couple of people in the little booths against the walls. Two of the guys at the bar looked up at her, giving her the once over but the others didn't acknowledge her, they just got on with their conversations, drinks and food. 

She walked up to the bar slowly, looking around a little, the barkeep acknowledged her and motioned he’d be another minute, so Beth leant against the wooden countertop and looked at the game on the TV screen, as there was nothing else she could look at. She didn’t want to get her phone out and look needy, and she didn’t want to hide away in a booth on her own. She didn't know this place and she wasn’t 100% in her comfort zone.

She felt his presence and could smell him before he spoke.

“You’re early.”

She turned to him and shrugged. “I didn’t know the place.”

“Well, now you do.” His eyes were locked on hers cooly and his face was impassive, bruised, but impassive. ”Didn’t have you down as a football fan.”

She raised her eyebrows at him. “I’m not.”

He shrugged. “There’s a booth close to the back, in the corner, let’s go there.”

She nodded and waited for him to lead the way. He had his usual jeans, button up and half on, half off hoodie combination on and the addition of the bruises on his face and several days growth of stubble just added to his edge, making him seem more dangerous, but still just as attractive. He took his hoodie off before slipping into the booth, scooting around so that he could see the entrance to the bar. Beth went to move to the seat opposite him but he shook his head and patted the seat next to him. 

Beth swallowed and removed her jacket before moving next to him. She saw him appraise her body with his eyes quickly but she didn't acknowledge it. She didn’t know what was about to happen.

“When in a dark bar having a meeting, you must always keep your eye on the door and have a plan b escape route planned.”

“Oh.” Beth swallowed as she looked at Rio.

They were sat so close she could smell his delicious scent.

“So you cleaned up your home mess?”

Beth frowned. “The house, yes.”

“And car-man?”

“He moved out this morning.”

Rio nodded at her and then looked to the barkeep approaching them.  
“Alright, it’ll be a fresh orange and soda for me and for the lady, I’m guessing she’ll have a bourbon straight up, but she knows what she wants better than anyone else.”

Beth bit her lip. “A bourbon please, straight up.”

The barkeep nodded and walked away and Beth turned to Rio.

“Don’t you drink?”

“Nah, not in public places and not when I gotta do business. Besides, fresh orange is good for you, full of vitamin c, which helps skin heal.”

Beth swallowed, wondering if she should have not ordered the bourbon, but then her nerves needed steadying, she had everything to lose and Rio didn’t. She looked at Rio again, looking at his injuries more closely. The bruise on his cheek was the worst. 

“I’m sorry.”

“For my face? That wasn’t you.”

“No but...”

Rio’s eyes narrowed, “I don’t wanna hear anything on that, it’s too late for apologies.”

Beth looked down, feeling ashamed. She spoke softly. “Okay, well, do you want me to tell you my idea?”

“Yeh, when the drinks come.” 

Beth looked up and saw the barkeep approach with a tray. She smiled at him as he put the drinks down and then watched as he retreated. She picked up the drink in-front of her and too a sip, looking at Rio who had relaxed a little.

“So, speak. I need a new business fast.”

“I think you should take on a Dr’s surgery that I know of.”

“A what?”

“Well, there’s a Dr who helped my soon to be ex-husband fake having cancer so that I would let his lying, cheating, bankrupt self move back into the family home. And if the Dr is happy to receive bribes in order to lie for patients, then perhaps he would be open minded about extending his practise. We could bring in a new Dr who will have patients that don’t necessarily exist. I mean medicine is so expensive and the costs can be extortionate.”

Rio brought his hand to his chin and leant back in the booth looking at her, considering what she had said. Beth took the opportunity to take another sip of her bourbon.

Rio then licked his bottom lip as he watched her. “I told you car-man wasn’t trustworthy.”

“If only I knew you in high school, you could have warned me about marrying him.”

“He cheated on you after you gave him four children?”

“We only planned three, Emma was the result one night of drunk sex in a year long dry patch. And believe me, it’s been a desert since.” Beth only realised what she had said after she had said it and she blushed, looking mortified at her admittance. She looked to the bar and downed the rest of her drink.

Rio looked at her a little puzzled but said nothing so Beth cleared her throat and spoke again, turning back to him, trying desperately to hide her embarrassment. Her voice came out squeakier than normal. “So, what do you think?”

“About your sex life?”

Beth looked at Rio in horror. “No! About the business?”

“Oh, yeh, it could work. We gotta think about the logistics an’ I need to check the guy out. But y’know, we’re gonna be using car-man’s business. He ain’t gonna be able to deny me an’ besides, the man needs to be kept in line. An arrangement with my boys an’ me will encourage him to be more business minded.”

“Really? Do you have to? I mean won’t the Dr be enough...”

Rio interrupted her. “This is not up for negotiation. I got an accountant who will do the dealings with car-man for now as I gotta keep low an’ you an’ I will start the deal with the Dr.”

Beth swallowed and nodded. She couldn’t argue with Rio.

Rio’s phone rang and he picked it up, answering it quietly and saying yes and no before hanging up and turning back to Beth. He opened up a note page and handed her his phone.

“Gimme the Dr’s name an' what not, I’ll look into him. We meet here tomorrow to talk again an’ we’ll go an’ see him. I gotta be somewhere now. Stay for a few minutes before leaving, yeh? In case we're being followed.”

Beth nodded, typing down the details before handing the phone to Rio. Just before he stood Beth put her hand on the table in-front of him.

“Rio, how did you know it was us?”

He looked at her coldy and his jaw twitched. “I just knew.”

“But what if your boys find out?”

Rio looked away from her, swooping his eyes around the bar again before speaking. “Someone at the grocery store was seen chatting to your special agent. He’s the one that will take the fall, he’s gonna get some shit happen to him soon enough.”

“Is it the store manager?”

Rio said nothing but looked at her.

Beth swallowed. “The store manager tried to rape Annie a few months back after, well, he knew we were the ones who robbed the store, and so, so he thought he could get away with attacking her.”

Rio’s jaw twitched slightly and he looked away then, shaking his head, but he didn’t say anymore. He stood, leaving cash on the table in-front of him which covered their drinks and tip and pulled his hoodie on slowly, grimacing slightly, still in pain from his fight with Dean.

As Rio began to walk towards the door, he turned back to Beth. “Car-man was a dumb-ass. To not even try for six years?” Rio shook his head at her in disbelief. “You should have left his sorry ass long ago, but you know that, right?”

“Yes.”

Rio appraised her with his eyes and walked out of the bar, leaving her with the heat of his gaze and a strange feeling of desire and hope. Because Rio believed that her business idea could work and because he had looked at her the way he used to.


	3. Kings And Queens - Part Three

Two months after Rio had had been released and all the charges against him dropped, he had already replaced losing ‘Fine and Frugal’ and a couple of the other stores with the Dr’s and Dean’s car business. The Dr hadn’t been so keen to sign his business up for money laundering, but Rio had somehow managed to gain access to a few dealings of the Dr’s which if revealed would jeopardise his career so he agreed to extend his practise for a reasonable cut. 

The Dr’s had already worked out to be super profitable, they had managed to bring another Dr in, someone who worked mainly out of the usual surgery hours, as out of hours charged more, which was handy for the money laundering activities and Rio conceded it was helpful to have a Dr on hand for any incidents that some of his boys found themselves in.

Beth had agreed to work as the Dr’s assistant and so officially worked eight hours a week, which amounted to either two mornings or afternoons when the kids were at school. It also meant that she had a legitimate reason to be at the surgery to do the real work of money laundering. Her life had become more complicated and yet it also, weirdly, made her feel so much more alive. Rio still had an issue with some of his associates and contacts as he’d been arrested in-front of the local media, so understandably, a few folks were not so keen to deal with him. Including the Canadian fake money makers. 

He’d arranged a meeting with Mr Lars, the sweet homely looking man who ran three craft stores across he boarder and was the creative maker of the fake money. Mr Lars had friends in Detroit and was due to attend a party on the coming Saturday night with his wife in a fancy hotel’s private dining room. The dining room was situated next to one of the most glamorous restaurants in Detroit. It was a classy place and the party was a bring your partner night, so Rio had decided to take Beth with him. 

Beth’s warm manner set people at ease and he knew that his first impression often made people nervous. Together, they worked, he made her tougher, brought out the creative and savvy side to her, and she challenged the way her thought, made him more reflective in his dealings and when with others, she smoothed his rough edges. 

When they had sat side by side in-front of the Dr’s together, Rio’s men stood at the door, his face still bruised, he acknowledged to himself that they had been a formidable team. He didn't need to make the threats, he was just threatening, she seemed sweet but the edge behind her words was sharp as a knife.

After that day at the Dr’s, they had settled into meeting a couple of times a week either in the coffeeshop or the bar. Totally discreet and casual, no one gave either of them a second look so they were free to quietly discuss the Dr’s surgery, as Rio was making Beth do much of it on her own, with his guidance. 

He had made it clear that she was in this deep now, that the trail would lead to her if they were caught. She still owed him. She would owe him until he decided she and the girls had paid enough. She wasn’t comfortable with being so caught up in it, so traceable, but the alternative, being killed by him, or one of his boys, was a far worse proposition, so the main incentive was to make sure she wasn’t caught.

And yet at the same time, what she was doing felt so right to her. It sparked something inside her, it made her feel so alive. Her brain and her wits were being used. Her bills were being paid. She could manage the workload and manage her children. She could do it. She was doing it. And Rio, as he always had been, unwittingly, reluctantly, was her mentor.

As she learnt on the job with him, she, Ruby and Annie were also legitimately setting up a secret shopper business so they could cover themselves. Rio had decided that he needed the secret shoppers back in, so that he could have another outlet to launder the fake money once the production process had been re-agreed to. It also meant that Annie and Ruby were kept busy and under his thumb. 

Ruby had not been happy about being drawn back to a life of crime as Stan would not forgive her but she knew she had no choice. Beth had taken the fall for most of Rio’s wrath. 

And being part of a legitimate business meant that she could go part-time at Dandy Dougnuts, and maybe soon be able to give it up entirely, as she would be on the pay-roll of a tax-paying, legal business. She just had to smooth things over with Stan.

She and Stan remained together but things were still so strained. He had calmed down after Ruby admitted to stealing the money, he knew why she did it, to save their daughter. She explained to him that if their check bounced, it would have been a federal offence and he could have lost his job. She told him she saw how much more alive he had become since taking the job, how happy he was. She couldn’t let him loose that. 

She was desperate, so very desperate and all she had just wanted to save their daughter, to help their family, to make things okay. He understood it all but he was still distant from her, saying he didn’t know who she was anymore but he couldn't hate her, he loved her too deeply and she had saved their daughter. 

Annie had faired a little better, Sadie spent a week with her and then a week with Greg and Nancy but Annie wasn’t good without Sadie and so had begun to spend more time at Beth’s house. This had actually proved to handy as she was there to help out with the kids while Beth was working out the logistics of the Dr’s surgery dealings. And besides, Annie needed the distraction as she tried to handle her reawakened feelings for Greg. She had been out of sorts for a while but Beth knew she would speak about it when she was ready.

Saturday came around and Beth had changed three times before she settled on her outfit, a fitted to the knee black lace dress with three quarter length lace sleeves and a v-dipped neck, which showed her cleavage but wasn’t outrageous. It was ladylike but slightly edgy, she looked in the mirror and smiled. She felt confident, strong and yes, sexy in it. She paired the dress with pointed dark green satin heeled pumps, a matching slim green satin shoulder purse, a simple black jacket and the diamond drop necklace she had bought herself. She did a slight ‘smokey’ eye using brown eye shadows and a gold eye pencil as it was less harsh on her skin tone and then painted her lips an opaque plum. She then went to the back garden to say goodbye to the kids and Annie gasped at her.

“Jesus, Beth, look at you!”

“Would you would trust me with your money?”

“Yes! I’d trust you, but I’m not sure I trust gangfriend with you, you’re smokin’ hot.”

Beth rolled her eyes at Annie. “I make him seem more approachable and apparently that’s what he needs tonight.”

“Yes, it’s just...” Annie frowned at Beth.

“It’s just what?”

“Well, is that all he wants? Is that all you want to be to him?”

Beth looked at Annie with a frown. “Annie.”

They had talked about this, why Rio had gone to her and not the others when he got out of jail. Why Rio had put all the pressure on her. Why Rio was expecting her to take charge. Why Rio had no interest in meeting with anyone but Beth. 

Beth tried to state it was because she had been the one to ask for more work, to suggest things to him and Annie agreed with that, but Annie questioned their relationship. Annie had told Beth that anyone could see the occasional sparks between them and the problem, as Beth very well knew having now been pulled into a full-time life of crime, was that sparks cause fires. Only maybe the fire Rio and Beth had was going to led to spill into other parts of their lives and that would cause problems. Rio was their boss. He owned them. Business and pleasure did not mix.

Beth had admitted to herself that she got a thrill from Rio, but not to Annie. She told Annie he was so much younger than her, and from a different world, so nothing like that would ever happen between them. Besides, why would Rio be interested in someone like her, a boring Mom? He was a hood-looking dangerous mastermind behind a criminal empire. He had zero sexual interest in her.

Annie had shaken her head. Beth could tell herself that, but she had seen the way Rio looked at her sister. That gangfriend liked Beth, got irritated by Beth, was intrigued and amused by Beth was kind of obvious to Annie and Ruby, but what Annie had realised over their dealings with him, was the thing that Rio did differently with Beth, was he gave her his time. 

He took time to explain things to her. He was mostly patient with her. He didn’t give Ruby or Annie his time, nor was he patient with them. And Annie very much doubted that he gave much time or any patience to his boys or other associates. So Annie knew his feelings for Beth were deeper than he’d admit to. But just how deep?

“Ladies.”

Beth and Annie turned to see Rio standing in the doorway of Beth’s bedroom. He was wearing a smart black button up and his chain over the top of it. He had his usual dark jeans and low key black boots on and his stubble was shorn a little neater.

Annie looked nervously at Beth and hugged her. “Good luck! And send big Mike my regards.”

“Annie!” Beth’s eyes widened, remembering the trip, the start of their journey. “Look after my babies!”

“Always.”

Beth then followed Rio who had stepped back into the house. He stopped when they got to the front door, turning to look her up and down admiringly, he met her eyes with a spark.

“You look good Mama.”

Beth tried not to beam at him. “Thanks, so do you. Do I look trustworthy enough for your associate though?”

“Trust me, no one would question you.” He opened the door for her and she stepped out, waiting for him and they walked to his car together. 

 

....... 

 

The night had gone well. They had spent over two hours at the party after Rio had tutored her in the car, no drinking, don't ask or answer too many personal questions, chat as much as possible with the women, if asked awkward questions improvise or turn to him for help. And most of all, stay as close to him as possible, smile a lot, make him seem approachable, but revered. 

After initially feeling nervous, Beth had actually enjoyed herself, Rio was great company. He knew a lot about so many things, he just didn’t usually reveal anything that wasn’t relevant to his work. And his work meant he had to be cagey. He was also usually moving onto the next thing, so had no time to spare to chitchat, but here he took his time and was as relaxed as Rio could be, though he still gave off that slightly dangerous energy. The energy of a panther about to strike its prey. 

Beth had warmed to Mrs Lars straight away, they swapped party food ideas for their kids, and shared stories about some of the sillier things their kids did. 

When Mr Lars said he didn’t trust anyone who hadn't got a pet by the age of thirty, looking at Rio questioningly after Rio said he didn’t have time to look after animals, Beth had laughed and said that Rio didn’t need his own dog as he spent enough time looking after hers, Buddy, although the problem was Buddy moulted so much on Rio’s dark clothes it drove him crazy. That she said, was enough to put Rio off getting his own pet. Mr Lars had laughed at that, Rio was always in dark clothes and always looked edgy, and dog hair was not part of that look. They easily moved onto another topic after that and when Rio caught her eye and she had winked at him, conspiratorially.

Beth felt Rio’s eyes on her throughout the night, and she felt the heat. She felt confident here and she knew her presence at Rio’s side made him seem a little more like a regular guy, less gangster-like and more like a businessman who knew his stuff but dressed like a hipster. 

Mr Lars and Rio eventually left everyone to talk alone together on the balcony and Beth took the time to freshen her make-up and message Annie. When she stepped out of the restroom she sneaked another mini fish cake from a waiter and then seeing that the balcony was now empty, but not seeing Rio anywhere, she decided to walk out onto it, wanting to see the view of the city at night.

Although it was late spring, there was still a bite in the air and she shivered slightly, she’d left her jacket with the waitress when she walked in. 

She wandered to the railings and drank in the view of the twinkling city, it was a sight to behold and it made her happy. She had only been there a short while when someone cleared their throat behind her and she turned to see a man she had spoken to earlier. 

He wore a dark grey suit jacket with rolled up sleeves and a white t-shirt underneath it. He had thick silver hair though he was probably around her age. The hair suited him, and she had noticed more than one of the other women at the party looking at him. He was tanned and handsome, with pale blue eyes and the confidence of a man used to getting what he wanted. He held two glasses of champagne in his hands and approached her.

“I hope you don’t mind, but I took the opportunity to get you a drink when I saw you were alone.”

“Oh,” Beth smiled at him, a little surprised. “Thank you.” 

He put the champagne flute in her hand and took a sip of his as he watched her, curiously. She kept her smile fixed, and her eyes bright. Rio had said to be bright and engaging and so she was keeping it up, even though the man just snuck another look at her cleavage and she had already caught him staring into it when they were first introduced.

“So, how did someone like you meet Rio?”

“We worked together.”

“Oh, I wouldn’t have imagined that whatever it is you do, would be something that he would do.”

Beth cocked her head to one side and kept her smile on her face but said nothing in return.

“I’m not fishing, I’ve done my due diligence on everyone at the party, but not you, as you were a plus one. And I have to say you are the most beautiful plus one here.” He looked at her cleavage again. “That’s a beautiful necklace, was it a gift from him?”

Beth shook her head. “No.” She pretended to drink the champagne. Rio had told her not to drink and she was being very good.

“I’m just curious as to how such a beautiful, charming lady like you got involved with a man on the make. He’s a bit, well, rough around the edges.”

Beth felt strangely defensive but tried not to show her irritation. “Well, this lady knows when she’s met her match and believe me, he’s more than my match, and he’s also a true and perfect gentleman.”

The man tilted his head to the side, disbelieving, and he stepped closer to her. Beth took a step back, pressing against the railings and her smile slipped. “Is that so? Or maybe you like someone on the make? Maybe you like someone to be a bit on the rough side. You know I used to be him when I was a kid, but I got lucky sooner. Listen, I’ll cut to the chase, I think you and I...” But then he stopped speaking.

Rio had appeared out of nowhere, silently and was at Beth’s side, slipping her jacket over her shoulders protectively. He didn’t need to say anything, the energy coming off him was clear. Do not mess with me, do not mess with her.

Beth touched the jacket on her shoulder gratefully and looked at Rio, their eyes met briefly, and he gave her a look that sparked another wave of heat that rushed over her body. She slipped her right hand into Rio’s left hand and they locked fingers. Rio’s free hand took the drink off her and he passed it back to the man.

“I think we’re done here, Mr....”

The man cleared his throat before he spoke. “It’s Patrick.”

“Right,” Rio smiled coldly at him. “Enjoy the rest of your night, Patrick.”

Rio then led Beth back into the room, keeping his fingers wrapped around hers until they had to shake hands with Mr Lars and his wife. Rio then put his arm around Beth’s waist, making her heart skip a beat as he led her out of the building, to collect his car. 

They hadn’t uttered a word but Beth had felt the heat from his look on the balcony, felt the protectiveness of his arm on her waist, the claiming of her with his hand and the energy that vibrated through him. 

The man hitting on her had pissed Rio off. Rio had been getting too used to Beth being around him, he wanted her there to both charm and irritate him, and he got off on their constant eye-fucking contact games, so seeing her being cornered and leered at, at a party he had taken her to irritated him, because in all honesty, he knew he had no claim on her.

The valet brought the car around to them and Rio dismissed him with a tip, so that he could open the passenger door for Beth, before walking back to the drivers side to get in. Just as he opened his door a voice called out to him.

“Rio. Fancy meeting you here.”


	4. Kings And Queens - Part Four

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The tension is building...

Beth recognised the voice and turned her head but Rio shut the car door, standing in-front of the window to block Beth’s view of the man approaching him. The blacked out windows concealed Beth from the outside world.

“Agent Turner.” Rio stood with his feet apart and his hands clasped before him.  
“What brings you to this part of town, I wouldn’t have thought it would be your scene.”

Rio’s jaw twitched but he didn’t respond.

“I saw that all the charges managed to get dropped. It was all misleading information, apparently.” Agent Turned stood opposite Rio. 

He was dressed down, it was the weekend and he had to stay on and complete some work instead of heading home to see the kids, so he was out, having a drink with a colleague and he couldn’t help himself from approaching Rio. Rio may have managed to slip away from all the charges of money laundering and gang-related criminal activities but Agent Turner knew he was far from innocent.

“Like I said, you keep chasing me an' yet you got nothing on me.”

“No, apparently not, but I’m just curious, your car, your fancy neck chain and no doubt the fancy restaurant on the top floor that you’ve probably just been to, you paid for all that just from your legitimate businesses? The mechanics store and the tattoo parlour?”

“What can I say, I look after my money, Agent Turner.”

The two men looked at one another coldly, each sizing the other up.

“If you don’t mind Agent Turner, I have someone waiting in the car for me, so I gotta go. Enjoy your night.” Rio didn’t make any attempt to leave, he just looked at Agent Turner, expecting him to move on.

“Of course, I don’t mean to keep you but you know, I am curious, where exactly did you find that lawyer of yours who found a loophole in the accounts that we were handed? They did a fine job, proving that despite your name being handed over and you being heavily indicated in this whole business, that you had nothing to do with any of it and that it was all just an extreme accounting error. Software with a glitch. The firm that sold the software is now being investigated, but you probably already knew that?”

Rio shrugged. “You can’t trust accountants.”

“I think we both know that you just got lucky.”

“Nah, man, you got it all wrong. Like my lawyer proved.”

“And just how are you affording to pay for that lawyer?”

Rio smirked. Agent Turner was trying to push him and although Rio was getting irritated he wasn’t about to show it. The evening had gone better than he could have planned, and to be honest, he wanted to spend some time with Beth, he’d bought her a good bourbon and it was waiting for them back at his, but the Agent was doing his best to be a mood killer.

“Before you go, was that the pretty housewife, Mrs Boland, that you just helped into your car?”

Rio’s smirk changed into a cold smile. “Who I have in my car is nobodies business but mine.”

“Oh, yes, I’m just curious about what interest you could have in a suburban soccer Mom? You see, I’ve spoken to her before about you. She was pretty certain she wasn’t going to see you again after you fucked her on her breakfast table and yet, I could have sworn that I saw you opening your passenger door for her.”

Agent Turner then walked away from Rio, around to Beth’s side of the car, knocking on the window. Beth took a deep breath in and then undid her belt, she let the jacket slip off her shoulders, dropped her purse on the floor and smoothed her dress down. She knew it fitted her well, she knew she looked good in it. Taking a deep breath she opened the car door. She kept her eyes on Agent Turner and her knees together as she stepped out of the car and stood before him.

“Agent Turner, we meet again.”

“Jimmy, Mrs Boland, and what a surprise to meet you here tonight. Especially with this man.” Agent Turner gestured at Rio. “I thought you had no plans to see him again. I wonder what your husband would say?”

Beth smiled her sweetest smile at the Agent, but took a quick look at Rio who had prowled around the car, to stand possessively near her.

“Well, you’re more than welcome to ask my soon-to-be ex-husband for his opinion. His lying, cheating, money-bleeding-self would no doubt be very interested to know that I’ve been taken to somewhere that isn’t actually PF Changs. He's at his parents now, if you need catch him. But before you go there, on this lovely Saturday night, I would recommend trying out the restaurant on the top floor, the Thai fish cakes were out of this world incredible.”

Agent Turner eyeballed Beth who didn’t flinch. Rio shifted slightly next to Beth, amused by her.

“What are you doing Mrs Boland? You have children and you live in the suburbs. This man is the leader of an inner-city criminal gang. He’s gangbanger, he’s not exactly someone you should be going on dates with.”

“I’m a businessman, Agent Turner. The only banging I do is on kitchen tables, isn't that right, sweetheart?” Rio slipped his arm around Beth’s waist and he pulled her close to him, so that their bodies were aligned. Both Beth and Agent Turner looked at Rio.

Beth felt the colour rise in her cheeks, feeling Rio’s warm hard body against hers, feeling the desire that it aroused in her and then also feeling the intense scrutiny of Agent Turner’s gaze. She knew Agent Turner would see her blush, so she used this to her advantage and turned back to him, clearing her throat before speaking. 

“I said I didn’t plan on seeing him again, but a couple of weeks back a tyre burst on my minivan after I had seen my divorce lawyer, and the weirdest thing was that he,” Beth turned to Rio, looking directly into his dark eyes, and putting a her hand on his chest before turning her gaze back to the Agent. “He actually stopped his car to help out, not knowing it was me. I freaked out a little when I saw him because of what you said Agent Turner, and well, I had seen him in the news. But he was so sweet to me. He said all that was a mix up, that he had been racially profiled.” Beth turned to look at Rio again. “And after he changed my minivan tyre, he offered to take me out for dinner.” 

Beth then looked down at her pumps and smiled shyly, making it clear that she had been surprised by the offer, and flattered too, before she raised her eyes back to Agent Turner’s. “And so here we are.”

Agent Turner frowned at Beth but she shrugged at him. 

Rio couldn’t help but smirk again. Beth had made him out to be a wronged man and a hero. She had lied so easily and so earnestly, with that gorgeous beguiling face of hers, he found himself believing her story too, even though he knew none of it was true. But most importantly, he saw that Agent Turner believed it.

Agent Turner raised an eyebrow. “So, what, now you’re dating him?” 

“That’s none of your business. An’ this part of the date is over. If you’ll excuse us, we got somewhere else to be.” Rio stepped back from Beth, breaking their body contact so he could open the passenger door of the car.

Beth smiled shyly again, giving a slightly embarrassed look. “Goodnight, Agent Turner.”

She stepped into the car, brushing her dress down before looking up at Rio as he looked at her appreciatively before closing the door. 

Agent Turner had seen their body language, the looks they shared and he shook his head, not wanting to believe it, but not being able to deny it. The attraction between them was obvious. And who could blame her for having a rebound at the end of her marriage, but it was just who it was with that was the problem. 

Rio turned back to Agent Turner and was silent for a moment as they looked at each other again, challengingly. 

Rio finally spoke. “It’s rude to keep a lady waiting. Goodnight Agent Turner, an’ next time you wanna chat, call my lawyer, yeh?”

Rio then walked away, getting into the car and driving off smoothly, leaving Agent Turner standing.

Neither Beth nor Rio spoke for a couple of minutes, but Beth eventually swallowed. “Do you think he bought it?”

“Yeh, he bought it, but that could lead to other complications.”

Beth breathed a sigh of relief, not thinking about the ‘other complications’. “Good and do you think Mr Lars was happy too?”

“Yeh, it’s gonna take a little time to get back where we were, but he’s gonna be cool. He liked you. Said you were sharp.”

“Oh.”

Rio side-eyed her. “First time I seen you in full action mode, with the feds. That was quite something.”

Beth blushed, his praise always felt good.

“So what exactly did you tell Agent Turner I did to you in your kitchen?”

Beth laughed then. “Rio! I’m not telling you.”

“You told him.”

“Yes, but well, that was different.”

“Tell me.”

Beth exhaled loudly and shook her head.

“Come on, tell me. If he knows, I need to know.”

Beth sighed in resignation. “I said we met in a bar and I took you home and we had a drink and you, and you kissed me and I kissed you back, and,” Beth paused to swallow. 

“And?”

Beth closed her eyes. It was harder to say it to Rio than it had been to say it to Agent Turner. 

“You took my panties off and we screwed on the kitchen table. Then you left.”

Rio licked his bottom lip and laughed softly. “Elizabeth, you are something else.”

Beth blushed from head to toe and looked out of the window. She felt that tension within her, her attraction to him, the buzz from their encounter with Agent Turner that Rio had let her lead, the fact that Rio had praised her which always made her feel so good inside. And he had looked at her the way he did, the way he used to, throughout the night. She had felt the heat of his gaze, his unspoken desire, over and over again and now she was sat in his car, surrounded by his scent, within touching distance and no one else was near them, and he had said her name the only way he could say it. She felt a little dizzy with her desire for him.

Aware that she had been silent perhaps for too long she tried to focus on the road and realised that they had not taken the faster route back to hers. “Wasn’t it best to take the turning back there?”

“For what?”

Beth turned to face him, but he was looking at the road. “To drop me off.”

“Annie’s staying at yours with the kids tonight, right.” It was statement, not a question.

“Yes?”

“So you don’ need to be back till tomorrow.”

“Well, I guess not.”

“So you’re coming home with me.”

Beth was stunned. “What?”

“I just took you on a date sweetheart, an’ seeing as we’ve already hit it, do you think we would call it a night? An’ ignoring that fed story, you an’ me deserve a drink.”

Beth laughed, embarrassed, confused and excited. “You don’t drink.”

“I told you already, I don’t drink in public places, an’ I don’t drink at other peoples places, but that don’t mean I don’t drink.”

They stopped at a red light and Rio took his eyes off the road to look at Beth. They shone brightly, hopeful and expectant, but he shrugged his shoulders. “Listen, if you don’t wanna have a nightcap with me, I can take you back to spend the night spooning Annie. But you just told the feds you were with me an’ you weren’t giving the go home alone vibes. You think Agent Turner or another lackey won’t follow us? You think they won’t check on us? You don’t want anyone looking too closely at what we’re really doing together now, do you?”

Beth instantly started to blush, feeling flustered under his gaze. “Oh, yes. Okay. I’ll have to message Annie, and tell her I’m staying out.”

Rio’s eyes smiled at her and looked back at the road. “Nah, don’t text, that can be traced. Call her an’ you can tell her I have a spare bedroom, otherwise that imagination of hers will run overtime.”

Beth nodded but her heart fell. She didn't want to stay in his spare bedroom.


	5. Kings And Queens - Part Five

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> And so, finally!!...

Beth called Annie, crestfallen that Rio didn’t want to actually spend the night with her and cringing internally as he was obviously listening to her conversation, though he made a show of putting the radio on, selecting a station that was playing some old school hip-hop that Beth recognised. Annie was glad to hear from Beth but Beth heard the edge in Annie’s voice when she commented on the FBI having nothing better to do with their time then harass her boring sister who’d gone on her first date in over twenty years. Annie then made a joke about gangfriend venturing into raisin cave but Beth blushed crimson and ended the call, telling her she would be back mid-morning.

Beth then sat back in the plush leather car seat and took a deep breath.

“You wanna explain to me what a raisin cave is?”

“No!” Beth cried out and couldn’t help but hide her face in the palm of her hand as Rio chuckled.

A track by Salt’n’Pepa came on and Rio sang the main lie of the chorus at her, to tease her and enjoy her obvious discomfort. “P-push it real good.”

“Oh please, don’t make out like you know this, you weren’t even born when it came out.”

Rio looked at her out of the corner of his eye laughing at her attempt to change the subject. “Really Mama, how young do you think I am?”

Beth took a deep breath and looked out of the passenger window. “Probably 29 or 30?”

Rio laughed out loud. “Aw, damn girl, you say the sweetest things to me. An’ about me. I heard you tell the dick in a suit that I was a gentleman.”

Beth looked at him in surprise as he grinned at her.

“An’ if you add seven years to the odd number you gave me, then you got there.’

Beth looked slightly confused before she did the math and looked at him in surprise. “Oh.” 

He wasn’t as young as she feared. He merely smiled at that, and muttered something about not being a toy boy after all.

“What did you just say?”

Rio smirked at her, and looked back at the road, he’d slowed down as they were in an understated neighbourhood and then they were suddenly pulling into a driveway of a stand alone house that had black wrought iron fencing all around it. The house itself had two floors, was painted neatly and had a porch that seemed to wrap all the way around. Rio pulled up close to the house, but didn’t drive into the garage, instead he turned off the engine. 

He didn’t take a look at her or even speak before he stepped out of the car, closing the door softly behind him. Beth sighed, and had only just managed to undo her seat belt by the time Rio had opened the door for her. She looked up at him, surprised and stepped out of the car, slinging her jacket over her purse which hung on her shoulder. He let her move next to him as he shut the car door behind her, but then trapped her against it with his body. He put his arms either side of her shoulders and put his face close to hers.

“I said, I’m not going to be your boy toy after all.”

“Who said you would have been?” Beth arched her eyebrows at him.

“You telling me you ain’t thought about it?”

“About what?” Beth stared into his eyes, challenging him as he grinned at her and then it happened and she wasn’t prepared for it at all. 

He leant forward and pressed his lips on hers, gently at first, slightly sucking her bottom lip before pulling back, waiting to see if she would pull away, but she didn’t. Instead she slightly parted her lips as her eyes stared into his and so he leant forward again, pushing his lips back onto hers to gently kiss her top lip. Beth moved her hands and put them on his hips instinctively, she leaned forward a little, meeting his mouth with hers, parting her lips more for him, feeling the tip of his tongue press hers before he leant his body weight against her, opening her mouth more with pressure from his lips. 

He probed her tongue with his, taking control over their kiss, dominating her mouth and slightly scratching her skin with his stubble. She involuntarily sighed with satisfaction at being kissed by him, feeling his warm mouth on hers, feeling his lean and hard body on her soft curves. 

Beth felt a stirring within, felt herself getting wet, and she couldn’t help but moan a little more as his tongue probed deeper into her mouth and his body pressed harder against her. She felt his erect hardness through the fabric of his jeans and her dress, pressing against her lower belly just as she felt her nipples harden with her arousal. She hadn’t been kissed like that in years, if ever, and she felt a little lost in it and the desire it ignited in her. And then he slowed his kiss down, and pulled back.

They were both breathing heavily, Rio’s eyes were shining more than usual, and seemed darker. She realised he was just as turned on as she was.

“Do you want to go inside?” It was a question, but it was more than that. He was offering her a get out again. And she knew it.

She held his gaze as she spoke. “I want to go inside, with you. And I don’t want to stay in your spare bedroom.”

He nodded, licking his bottom lip, and then he held his hand out to her.

Beth took a breath in and slipped her hand in his, he lifted the back of her hand to his lips, kissing it gently before he led her up the path and onto his porch and then into this house. She slipped her shoes off as he locked the door behind her and turned some lights on low. He bent to undo his laces, before kicking his own boots off and then he took her jacket and purse off her, leaving them on his mid-century sideboard. 

He then manoeuvred her against a wall, so that he could kiss her again, to tease her tongue and taste her mouth whilst he put his arms around her back, pulling her to him, her soft and full breasts pressing against his hard lean chest, which pushed her upper body into a tilt, as their hips found one another. Beth put one hand on the back of his neck drawing him to her and the other on his ass, which was firm and round, and she squeezed it appreciatively.

The feelings building inside her were so intense, the need for him, after months of noncommittal flirting. Beth was glad that Rio was so open with his desire for her, that he wasn’t messing about. He pulled back from her, and they assessed each other, both panting, both flushed, both full of lust and he took her hand again to lead her up the bannister free wooden staircase to his bedroom. 

Beth hadn’t paid much attention to what little she had seen of his house so far, as she had been too wrapped in Rio’s embrace but his bedroom pleasantly surprised her, she was expecting it to be dark and maybe done in bachelor pad greys, with dark sheets and a cold edge, but it wasn’t like that at all.

It was large but cosy and simply designed, white walls, white bedsheets, light wooden floor boards with various colourful pattered and old looking morrocan style rugs laid out on it, and thick sheepskin rugs on either side of the bed. There was a beautiful blanket folded over the foot of the bed that had been embroidered in Aztec style patterns in dark green and red and there were cushions to match it above the white pillows. Several Mexican heart and hand icons in tin in various designs and colours lay above the head of the bed. There were two small mid-century style bedside cabinets either side of the bed and an old and well used lounge chair sat by a large window on one wall. The other wall had two reclaimed looking wooden doors but she didn't have time to investigate any further as after Rio had turned a large floor lamp on, by his lounge chair, he began to make his way back to her, slowly, drinking her up with his eyes. 

And suddenly she felt nervous.

God, she had not had sex since she conceived Emma and the sexual energy that came off this man was something else. He was gorgeous, his body was lean and strong and she had a feeling his cock was going to be like the rest of him, perfect. 

She was no where near perfect. She’d pushed two children out of her vagina, and had two removed from her. Of course she’d religiously practised her kegals but still, she wasn’t 22. And that wasn’t the only thing, she had a Mom curved belly and full and heavy breasts and a smattering of stretch marks on her hips. She was so white as she couldn’t tan and she hadn’t visited a gym in her life. Her only saving grace was that she practised yoga at home so was kind of flexible and she had stamina as she had spent most of her time running after the kids and the dog. But still, she wasn’t tight of body and perky. She wasn’t sure if she had ever been those things. Rio probably had only been with women who had model-type bodies. When he undressed her, he really, really wouldn’t be so turned on.

As Rio reached her as her panic escalated, and as if he could read her thoughts he didn’t grab her, despite the obvious lust radiating from him, he instead put his hands on either side of her face as he stood in-front of her and starred deep into her eyes.

“You are so beautiful.”

Beth swallowed and put a hand on his, shaking her head. “Rio.”

“Yes, you are. You know the first time I saw you, yeh, I know I scared you an’ made you jump but you starred me out. Oh, I liked you from that moment on, I mean I didn’t like that you stole from me, an’ selling me out, that’s not forgivable, but you had sass. You know I have a soft spot for you.” He leant forward and kissed her mouth so gently. 

“You so used to hiding in a role, so used to not being seen.” He kissed her gently again and Beth took a step closer to him, putting her hands on his hips to bring him closer to her. 

“But I see you, you’re so beautiful an’ stronger than you show. You need to come out of your shell. An’ man, you have such perfect skin, an’ eyes that burn through me an’ your body...” Rio let out a groan and he kissed her deeply, so she kissed him back passionately, pulling him against her.

He walked her backwards to the bed as his hands travelled down her sides, from her ribs, to her waist, to her hips and her lower back and then down to cup her ass cheeks.

“Your body, goddamn it, Elizabeth, you have the body every woman should have, a real woman’s body, so perfectly full an’ lush an’ man, those curves.” He pulled her to him. “I’ve been wanting to feel your skin on mine for so long now.”

Beth felt let her lack of confidence slip away, she couldn’t get his body close enough against hers, pulling his mouth to hers, wanting to feel his tongue on hers, his words had not just reassured her, they had completely turned her on. He wanted her, he saw her as she was and he wanted her, all of her.

Her hands moved to undo the buttons of his shirt as he found the zipper of her dress and they shed themselves of their outer clothes quickly. Beth sat back on his bed and scooted back, to lean herself on the pillows and cushions. She stared at his skin, a pale honey and his body. She had to take a deep inhale, he was so sculpted, he had a defined chest and a subtle six pack, his arms were strong and lean. He wasn’t covered in tattoos as she thought he might be, just the backs of his arms, his eagle on his neck and then hands and a heart combination on either side of his chest, which were like the icons above his bed. 

He looked at her as he stepped out of his boxer shorts. She stared at him, her eyes wide and breathing heavily. He was solid, and a good length, not too large, not too short, but slightly curved and fully erect. He was just perfect. She felt an ache of longing inside and breathed in deeply, looking back to his eyes.

He smiled then, seeing her blatant desire, and she sat up a little to undo her bra, throwing it aside feeling the heat from his gaze burning her skin. 

As she moved to discard her panties, he shook his head and he made his way across the bed, crawling to her, pressing his body on hers as she sighed appreciatively. He claimed her mouth with a deep kiss and then finally moved his hands over her body, cupping her breasts and stroking her nipples with his thumb before moving down, exploring her skin with his palms and lips and tongue, nibbling and caressing. When he reached her hips he pulled his body back from hers and slowly pulled her panties down, stroking the skin his hands touched, her thighs, her knees, her calves, her ankles, the souls of her feet.

Beth was so turned on she was practically panting, and felt slightly ashamed knowing that she was so, so wet already. She thought she should do more to him, for him, so she reached out her hand to touch him and he moaned and moved his head back up to hers, pressing his forehead against hers as she felt the full, hard, smooth, velvety length of him. She squeezed gently, caressing his head with the finger tips of one hand whilst holding the base with her other hand.

“Elizabeth.” His voice sounded strained. “I need to be inside you now cos if you do that to me I’m gonna explode like a teenage boy, an’ that’s not how I want this to go.”

Beth looked up at Rio and kissed him, moving back slightly so he could manoeuvre on top of her. She wordlessly guided his smooth hard cock, spreading the wetness of his pre-cum over his tip with her fingertips, and she guided him to her wet entrance and she moved her hands away. 

“We should wrap up.” Rio’s voice was strained with desire.

“I’ve got an IUD fitted, not that I’ve needed it, but are you, clean?”

“Yeh, I’m clean. I don’t ever do this unprotected.”

Their eyes locked in understanding, and he gently but firmly pushed inside her. They both froze for a moment, staring at each other, feeling the intensity of union, and Beth couldn’t help but clench, it had been so long. When he moved again, pressing a little more of himself into her, she was shocked to feel a sharp pain, and gasped, it really had been that long. 

He felt her tense up around him, despite her wetness and he understood, so he moved a hand under her ass, lifting her slightly to him, kneading her skin, as he moved his mouth to hers, whispering. “It’s okay, relax, it’s okay.” 

She nodded as he then kissed her deeply and passionately and she relaxed into the kiss, breathing in deeply through her nose and letting her body loosen. He felt her core relax a little, so he gently pressed his cock further inside her. He pulled his lips back from her.

“Do you know what you do to me Elizabeth, do you know how much you turn me on? How your wetness for me turns me on?” He moved his lips back on hers as she moaned her appreciation as he pushed inside her further, and her core adjusted to him, accepted him, accepted all of him, warmly welcoming the invasion of his hardness, her wetness helping her core handle him. She moaned more loudly, feeling an extreme wave of pleasure.

She couldn’t form a sentence to say back to him, so intense was the feeling of him being inside her, of their bodies finally doing what they were finally meant to do. He thrust inside her again and all she could do was whisper his name in pleasure into his ear as she sucked his earlobe, making him groan.

They began to move in rhythm of each others thrusts as they both moaned out in pleasure, equally enraptured with each others bodies, stroking and kissing, nipping and sucking, hips locked and rocking. They stayed thrusting and kissing, hands exploring till after some time, Beth moved herself around Rio, so she could ride him. 

He took a sharp intake of breath when she sat astride him, her full breasts laid out for him to appreciate with his eyes and hands and tongue as she took control of his thrusts into her, squeezing his cock tight inside her. He put one hand on her hip and the another on a magnificent breast, teasing her nipple with his thumb. He then leant up to take her other nipple in his mouth, grazing his teeth on it. 

She cried out in agonising pleasure, shaking her head at him before giving in to the sensation, having to close her eyes, the feeling of pleasure was so out of this world intense. She knew that he was going to make her come as he kept up the pressure of his thrusts and nipple nipping. 

He felt the heat rise in her core, felt her twitch, felt her try to change positions because she wanted to stop her own orgasm, because it had been so long for her, he knew that not just from what she had said but from her body being so tight, even now, when she had opened up to him, her core was tight. He knew that as much as she needed this, she was scared of coming on him, coming with him inside her and it was going to be a deep orgasm, they could both feel it. 

She tried to move. “Rio, I can’t...”

But he shook his head, his eyes locked on hers. “You can, trust me.”

He wasn’t going to let her change her position, he held her in place as she moaned and tried to buck away from him, from the building pressure. But he felt her heat and wetness, and held her firmly and watched enraptured as her orgasm hit her, feeling the explosion of heat on his cock, feeling her body shudder as she cried out with each wave that shook her. He rode her orgasm waves created by their bodies with her, still thrusting but not as hard as before, he was so fucking turned on by her explosion, his cock had been so squeezed by her orgasm clenches, but he wanted to wait before he let go, so he wriggled his toes and bit his lower lip.

She hadn’t been properly taken care of in such a long, long time, and he felt how intense her orgasm had been, saw how shocked she was by her own body, so he gently manoeuvred them, so that she was on her back again and he was on-top of her, still hard as hell inside her. She brought her hand up to his face to kiss him, still in total orgasm-shock but she rolled her hips against his, wanting to bring him to completion too, wanting to feel his own explosion. 

Rio kissed her back softly, whispering at her. “You deserved that.”

She couldn’t speak but moaned in appreciation as he very gently starting thrusting inside her, careful with her. 

In another twenty minutes he had brought her to orgasm again with one of her legs pressed up against his shoulder and as she shudder, crying out, he finally gave in to his own pleasure, groaning in satisfaction as he went over the edge, her hands gripping claw like onto his back and he filled her with his seed as her muscles squeezed him deep inside her.

He stayed where he was for a minute or so, unable to move, before taking a few deep breaths, and kissing her lips. He gently moved her leg back, breathing raggedly before he very slowly pulled out of her, which made her emit an involuntary moan at the loss, but he lay beside her, pulling her close. They were both slick with sweat and looking at each other in awe.

Beth could only shake her head and it made Rio laugh as they looked at each other with sheepishly. 

Beth swallowed. “Sweet jesus, what did you just do to me? I can’t think properly, and we’re both so, sweaty.”

Rio’s head fell back into his pillow as he laughed again and Beth felt his body vibrate. “I think the term is we screwed each others brains out. You worked me damn hard an’ milked me of all my seed, sweetheart. I can’t move right now.”

Beth started to laugh then, a deep belly laugh and Rio looked at her in appreciation.

He spoke softly at her. “This is real though, isn’t it, it’s not like romance in films an’ shit, with roses an’ candles an’ limp poetry. It’s hot, steamy, sticky, noisy, an’ fucking intense. I knew it was gonna be good with you but that, Elizabeth, damn, that was something else.”

Beth couldn’t help but beam at him, swallowing before speaking, shyly. “Way better than all my fantasies of you.” Beth then peeked at Rio’s feet. ”Although, in my fantasies I think you took your socks off.”

“Hey, don’t knock the socks, my feet get cold.” Rio pretended to look hurt and Beth giggled and he pulled her close to kiss her deeply.

He pulled back slightly and brushed his hand over the side of her face, moving some hair back. “so you have fantasised about me huh? I knew it. An’ I love to look at you when you laugh, an’ to see you in my bed, when you’ve got major orgasm afterglow an’ bed hair going on. You are just so incredibly sexy an’ you don’t even know it.”

Beth blushed again which made Rio smirk. 

She looked up at him and swallowed before speaking. “You’re more real, more handsome, more honest, and better than any man I have ever met.”

Rio stroked her face, moved by her words. She meant them, like he meant his. They had always been honest to one another.

They looked at each other, cooling bodies touching, eyes locked on each others, still in awe, coming down from their mutual orgasms. When Beth shivered, Rio kissed her gently before moving from her, she made an involuntary sound of disappointment, wanting him close, but he moved back to her quickly, having fetched the blanket from the foot of the bed to pull over them. He then pulled Beth close so he could spoon her, kissing her behind the ear gently as they dozed off. 

When they woke and hour or two later, Rio gave Beth a fluffy bathrobe which he took from his walk in closet and dressing room. He then took her hand and led her downstairs, giving her a late night tour of his house before they shared a bourbon on his porch and looked at the night sky.

They headed back inside to drink tea and ate some grilled cheese that he quickly but lovingly prepared for them, putting a spice on top of it that he wouldn’t reveal to her. Beth had to tell him in all honesty it was the best she had eaten and he smiled at her praise, moving to kiss her. Their desire for each other needed to be satiated again and Rio led Beth back to his bedroom, where they took time to explore each others bodies, tasting each others skin, learning a little more about what turned each other on, and bringing each other to the brink they watched each other orgasm again before falling into a deeply satisfied sleep.


	6. Kings And Queens - Part Six

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> And a little more like the last chapter ;)

She had woken early, needing to pee and had slipped out of bed, and padded as quietly as she could to the wooden door which concealed his ensuite bathroom. They hadn’t slept spooning but they had slept close, legs touching, his hand on her thigh. She could feel the heat of his body throughout the night and it was reassuring.

She had spent twenty years with someone lying next to her at night, not that they’d touched at all over the last few years and now Annie was around more often, she found sleeping next to someone else easy. But sleeping next to Rio was something else. She felt settled, she felt calmer, but maybe it was just that she felt deeply satisfied. She felt so fuzzy warm from their night and slightly achy inside, although it was a good ache. A joyous someone had finally properly seen to her ache. 

As she washed her hands at the sink she looked at her body, completely naked, in his full length bathroom mirror. She had a few bruises from his bites and kisses on her breasts and shoulders, nowhere that would be seen, but he had marked her as she had marked him and the skin on her chin was slightly pink from his stubble. She felt heat rising at the memory of him kissing her and looked around her at the bathroom to distract herself.

The mirror ran along one wall where the sink and sat, there was a stand alone bath that lay below a window and a huge shower in one corner. The floor tiles looked antique and where a mishmash of different coloured patterns and the walls in the shower where tiled white with grey grouting. Again, the bathroom was different to how she expected, slightly quirky as nothing matched and yet everything worked so well together. 

Beth tiptoed back to the bedroom and slipped into the bed and Rio sighed, turned to her and pulled the covers around her. 

“Morning Mama. You cold?”

‘No.” She snuggled against him.

“Are you sure ‘bout that? Was gonna warm you up.” His voice was thick with sleep but his hands moved over her body, spreading a heat to her lower belly.

He pulled her closer to him, so her backside was pressed into his stiffening cock. She exhaled loudly and manoeuvred herself, aligning her body in a spooning position with his, one of her hands slipping around his back to press him against her and the other in-front of her, to hold onto a pillow as he kissed the skin behind her ear. One of his hands had moved to her inner thighs, and he gently pressed his thumb on her clit, tracing circles as his other hand lifted her buttocks, positioning her so that his cock could find her slit.

She gasped when he pushed halfway inside her, the position was different and so she wriggled a little more into him, and sighed, feeling a wave pleasure of having him inside her again. He moved his hand from her ass to her breasts, massaging them, tweaking her nipples, emitting a moan of pleasure from her so he gently pushed deeper inside her, sheathing himself as far as he could in sideways as she pressed herself against him. They moved their hips in union, sighing and thrusting with Rio circling her clit until she tried to move his hand, but he knew her signs of arousal and kept on teasing her clit and thrusting until she came, crying out. He sped up his thrusts, not letting up despite her sensitive state, making her moan out in agony and ecstasy until he came too, juddering into her, holding her against him.

He didn’t let her go, they just lay together, his softening cock still inside her, their fast heartbeats calming, their hands intertwined. Eventually he pulled out of her and she sighed, so he pulled her onto her back and kissed her slowly and deeply. He leant back little and looked at her, his eyes still full of lust, despite their mutual orgasms.

“So.”

She laughed. “So?”

“Have you had a good morning, so far?”

She laughed at that. “I don’t think it can be bettered.”

“I ain’t made you breakfast yet an’ you an’ I need to eat. You keep on working me out woman.” He smirked at her before kissing her again and pulling her close against him.

They lay embracing for a little while, until he got up and went to the bathroom, and returned to the bed to drag her out of it. He dressed her in his bathrobe and pulled boxers and a fresh t-shirt on himself, and they wandered down into his kitchen.

He made her a most amazing breakfast, first giving her a water and coffee and then handing over a fresh green juice made with apples, ginger, spinach and cucumber. She sipped each of them, watching from his kitchen island as he quickly made guacamole from scratch then he whipped up spicy scrambled eggs which he served together on a gently heated tortilla wrap that he rolled up with cheese and a chopped tomato for her. They ate at his kitchen island and she sighed, telling him how amazing the food was, as it was so very delicious, and how perfect the coffee was. 

He poured her another cup from him stove top coffee maker as she checked her phone. It was after nine thirty so she walked back into the kitchen frowning, knowing that the last few hours of pure passionate escapism was about to end. She approached him and they embraced, warmly, gently and he kissed her forehead and then down her face.

“I know Mama. Go take the first shower, I’ll be up in a few, okay?”

She nodded and they kissed, making her sigh, before she walked back to his bedroom. His shower was hot and powerful and felt heavenly on her fully worked out and sex achy body. He had a face wash, a body wash and a shampoo laid out on the side of the shower, all expense brands and nothing too feminine which she hated to admit but she was relieved about and she took some of the face wash to clean off the remnants of her waterproof mascara, the rest of her make up having already been kissed and sweated away.

She didn’t hear Rio enter the bathroom over the noise of the shower but she sensed him standing by the shower entrance which was wide open, so she turned to face him, the hot water pouring down onto her shoulders, and dripping down her breasts and stomach. 

His mouth was slightly ajar and his eyes were dark as he stared at her. She felt the heat from his look as he appraised her body and she did something that she would never have the guts to do with Dean. 

Knowing that he was watching her, that his eyes would move where she directed them, she raised her arm, so she could put her hand behind her head, and then she moved her hand slowly down the back of her neck, and around her shoulder, letting her fingers trace her collarbone before she moved her hand to her breast. She let her palm slide around her nipple slowly, and as her fingers reached it, she gently tweaked it, before moving her fingers to her other nipple to tweak, so they had both sprung to life.

Rio was watching her mesmerised, and she could see his erection straining against his boxers, so she moved her hand down her belly, stroking it softly, before she reached her short and pale red curls, she had been maintaining her bikini line for a while now, just in case. She let her fingers feel for her slit but that was enough for Rio. 

He ripped his t-shirt off and stepped under the water with his boxers still on. He moved her hovering hand to his cock before he placed his hand on her slit, feeling around it, teasing her clit with his thumb as he pushed her back against the shower tiles. 

She squeezed him through the material of his shorts, and he groaned at her, quickly pushing a finger inside her which made her moan. She pulled his shorts down and he lifted her up, looking into her eyes as he lowered her down onto his cock, pushing into and filling her. She gasped at his entry, and also at how turned on she was, and she locked her legs together behind his hips as they began to thrust against and with each other. He kissed her passionately and held her against him as he pushed her against the tile wall and she squeezed her breasts against him as she leant her arms on his shoulders, wrapping her hands around his neck.

He almost bucked inside her, so turned on by her, that after only a few more thrusts he stepped back a little holding her up by her hips a little more to align her in a position where his cock rubbed her sweet spot. She thought he might drop her but he held her firm, his cock thrusting and massaging where she needed him, over and over unrelentingly and she came loudly and shuddering, holding his shoulders tight as her breasts bounced against him. He kissed her deeply as she sighed, orgasm-dozy and she let him move her out of that position, barley able to react as he pulled out of her quickly, bending her over, lifting her hips up and pushing her shoulders slightly down, before he pushed his hard cock back inside her, sliding into her warm, tight, post orgasm wetness. She cried out, still sensitive and not finding the position as comfortable, so he raised her shoulders up a little and pulled her hands out in-front of her, so they pressed on the shower glass, before he moved a thumb back to her clit. She gasped as he thrust in and out of her, quickly.

He spoke, hoarsely. “Look up, look up sweetheart, an’ see what I see.”

Beth moved her head, unsure if what she was experiencing was pleasure or pain with each thrust and clit circle but then she saw them, together, in the mirror that was slowly getting steamed up. His body was pure lean muscle, perfect honey skin and his face was so full of lust and pleasure as he was cock deep inside her pussy, being squeezed by her core muscles. 

As she watched him, he stroked her clit, with one hand and held her hips in place with another but his eyes remained glued to hers, staring into hers in the mirror and she gasped. It was such a turn on. 

To know that she was driving this man crazy with desire, this beautiful specimen of a man who wanted her to see what she did to him, how hot and wild and sexy it was. She clenched her muscles as hard as she could then and he cried out a few expletives, before putting extra pressure on her clit, bringing her to a swift and completely unexpected orgasm just before his own hit. She watched him in the mirror and marvelled at him.

He took a while to recover, having leant forward to hold her, and he stroked her skin gently as the warm shower water poured on them. When he pulled out she felt the loss of him and they hugged, feeling extra sensual under the water. Slowly Rio reached for his body wash and they began to gently wash one other. She let him shampoo her hair for her, massaging her scalp and she then massaged his shoulders for him. 

They towel dried each other, she attempted to brush her hair with the comb he had and he gave her some vitamin E cream which she used on her face and arms. She allowed him to tenderly rub the cream into her breasts and chest. She used a spare head he had for his electric toothbrush and then clean and fresh and totally sexually sated, they both left the bathroom to change.

She didn’t bother with her panties and he took them off her, telling her he’d give them back to her at a later date. She smiled, embarrassed and pulled on her bra and dress, letting him zip her up, and he gave her a black sweater to wear over it. Her breasts had been too big to squeeze into one of his long sleeve t-shirts and had strained obscenely at the material but he had made her try it on, just to be sure, but the sweater, although still tight on her chest, made the skirt part of her dress look more casual. Beth was grateful to look a little less like she had been out all night and realised that Rio might have a good eye about what would look good on her. He put on his dark jeans and a white t-shirt under his black hoodie and then he led her down the stairs.

They walked slowly to the door, he picked up her purse and jacket for her, slinging both over his shoulder and they each slipped on their respective shoes in silence. 

They stood by his front door and looked at one another, her face was devoid of make up, but had a rosy glow from overdosing on orgasms and her chin was slightly pink from his stubble. He brushed a hand over her cheek and they kissed, a slow, gentle and deep kiss before Rio pulled back. 

“It’s way after ten an’ if we start up again, I ain’t gonna let you leave.”

Beth nodded and took a breath in as Rio unlocked and opened his front door, letting the outside world in. She stepped out of the house and walked along the porch a little as he locked up, and she then followed him down the path to his car. He kissed her deeply before he opened the door for her, and then before she knew it, they were on the way back to hers. 

They didn’t speak much during journey, but he rested his hand on her thigh and she put her own hand on top of his. When he stopped his car outside her house, he turned the engine off, unbuckled and turned to her. She took his face his in her hands and kissed him deeply, and he put his hands around the back of her neck, pulling at her hair there, so that she tilted her head back and moaned.

He looked at her like she was the most beautiful thing he had ever beheld. He kissed her again and then pulled back, letting her go. Beth opened her mouth to speak but wasn’t sure if she could let the words out, if she could express how she felt, how much the last 15 hours had meant to her, what he made her feel. 

But he surprised her. “I know Elizabeth. I feel it too.”

She looked down and looked back up at him. ‘Thank you. I’ll see you soon.”

“Yeh, real soon.”

She smiled at him and then opened the car door, stepping out and closing it behind her, looking back only when she got to the house. She did a small wave and unlocked the front door before stepping inside, knowing that he would wait until she shut the door before he would drive off.

She locked the door behind her, she always did now, under his instruction, and then she pressed her body against in, taking a few deep breaths in. She was back home, back to her Sunday routine of a load or three of laundry, homework, making the kids run around the back garden with Buddy, cooking for them, cleaning up, prepping school bags and then when they had been bathed and put to bed, she would do her own prep work for the Dr’s surgery, checking what they needed to launder and what the schedule was.

Her new normality.

But right now, her core ached warmly from the intensive work out she’d had after years of lack and her body was still floating on so many orgasm highs. She closed her eyes and laughed. And that’s how Annie found her, leaning on her door, her eyes closed, her hair a little messy, her bare skin glowing and she was dressed in a weirdly cool combination of lacy skirt and street sweater. 

“Who are you and where is my sister?”

Beth opened her eyes, still laughing.

“You slept with him, didn't you?”

Beth couldn’t even try to hide it. “Oh, Annie.”

“You know I was joking right, about him venturing into the raisin cave, I didn’t mean you should do it! I mean, you know that doing anything with him is insane, right? He’s a full on...” Annie stopped herself as Emma cried out ‘Mommy’ and ran into Beth.

Beth scooted down to hug Emma and chat before they all walked into the kitchen. After a few minutes Emma ran back outside to her siblings.

“Please say you didn’t?”

“I didn’t stay in his spare room.”

“Beth!” Annie couldn’t help but shriek, “What were you thinking?”

Beth walked straight to the cupboard where she held the bourbon and got it out. Annie pulled two glasses from off the sink and put them in front of her.

“Well?” Annie asked.

Beth poured them each a generous measure and she laughed again before speaking. “I wasn’t thinking, I was having the most intense and amazing sex of my life.”

“That is not what I’m asking, though, I am very happy for you. You and gangfriend have clearly had a weird chemistry thing going on for a while and I’m glad that it must have played a factor in saving our lives. And I get it, I mean, I can see he’s a gorgeous man in a dangerous way but the fact that he’s a big crime boss who kills people takes the sexiness away from the situation, you know? He’s threatened our lives more than once, held a gun to you, he got one of his boys to hold a gun to your head and now he’s got us so deep into his business as a payback for shopping him, that we’re totally fucked if we get caught. How is any of that a turn on?”

Beth sipped her bourbon, looking at Annie but she didn’t respond so Annie continued.

“And you NEVER sleep with your boss. I've never slept with a boss! It’s crazy to do it, especially when he's a crime lord.”

Beth shrugged. “Well it was crazy to rob a grocery store, twice.”

“Exactly! Look where it’s got us - deeply indebted to a crime boss. Who you just slept with. And I can’t believe I’m the sensible one here.”

“Annie, I know it’s crazy, and I don’t know what’s going to happen but I sure as hell know I do not regret it.”

Annie shook her head at Beth and took a slug of the bourbon, then she frowned and quickly put it back down again.

“Well, was it worth it?”

Beth blushed, and looked down at feet.

“Oh my god, who are you? You’re blushing when you think of him? Jesus, Beth!”

“I didn’t know it was possible to have that many orgasms in that little space of time.”

Annie looked at Beth wide eyed and then started to giggle at her, and Beth joined in. 

“So no more raisin cave.”

“Annie!”

“You’re going to sleep with him again aren’t you?”

Beth smiled at Annie. “If the opportunity arises again, then, yes I definitely am.”

“Oh, Beth! What happened? Why am I the one giving sensible advise to my sister? This is not an acceptable role reversal!”

“Can’t I just be allowed a night off to have endless orgasms with a crime lord and general sex god?”

Annie started laughing again, unable to say anything else.


	7. Queens and Kings -  Part Seven

Beth was ready for bed much earlier than usual on Sunday, she’d managed to do all her chores and Annie had left after they’d had wine and snacks for dinner, both of them were too exhausted to properly cook for one another. She had just taken Buddy out for his last bathroom break before she locked up, when her phone buzzed with a message. She turned off the lights and walked from the kitchen to her bedroom before she checked it.

She caught her breath when she saw Rio’s name and that he had sent her a picture message. She opened it, curiously, to find a picture of her panties lying on one of his pillows. He had written: ‘Sweet dreams...’

Beth laughed out loud and knew she was blushing despite being on her own. Her first sext, if that was what it was? She had to think of something sassy to say back to him but was a little at a loss. 

She and Dean had never done anything like send each other risqué pictures or filthy messages. Neither of them had thought of it. But then a year back Beth had not robbed a grocery store, twice, without being caught, nor had she cleaned way over a million dollars of fake cash that she and the ladies had themselves smuggled over the boarder, nor had she set up a fake business to launder money and a real business to help clean the money and provide her with a legitimate income. A year ago she would have thought anyone telling her the she would currently be working her ass off all in the effort to please and appease the tattooed leader of a criminal gang was insane. But here she was. 

And here he was sending her pictures of her own panties. 

Beth sat on her bed and bit her lip, how should she respond? She wondered what Annie would do. This was something that Annie would probably know how to deal with. Although Annie had suddenly become the sensible one in their relationship. Maybe Annie would tell her not to respond as she had said sleeping with their boss was a bad idea. Beth started typing.

‘Pillow accessorising? And I think my dreams will be full of you tonight...’

She cringed after she sent it and walked into her bathroom to take a quick shower, distancing herself from her mobile, wanting to see if he would message back but she didn’t want to be that person who was waiting for a response. She was too old for this nonsense. 

But then she found herself showering faster than usual, taking less time with her face care routine so that she could hurry to her bedside table to check her phone again. Like a teenage girl. She sighed at herself but couldn’t help smile, when she saw she had two messages from him.

‘Yeh, well, your heads not on it, so something of yours had to go there.’

‘But my bed smells of us, so all I’m thinking of is you.’

Beth grinned widely and her stomach did a little summersault, so she quickly typed back.

‘Ditto. We felt good. Much more than good. I haven’t quite recovered...’ 

She added a face with stars for eyes and sent that to him on a whim, and Rio instantly messaged back a drooling face before writing:

‘Same sweetheart, what have you done to me?!’

But then he followed it with:

‘Listen, I gotta sleep now, big day tmrw. But I’ll call you in the evening, yeh? Goodnight sweetheart.’ 

She wished him goodnight back with a kiss and then put her phone down, and her pyjamas on, before crawling beneath the sheets, letting her head nestle into her pillow as she looked up at the dark ceiling.

All she could think of was him and what he had said to her; that she was beautiful, that her body, her curvy, real woman’s body was perfect. But it wasn’t just that he had said the words, he’d showed her that he meant them by how he was with her. He had taken his time with her, starting off gently as she had been so nervous, and he had made everything so easy. He had totally blown her mind and pleasured her body.

His reassurances, the way he had moved in total alignment with her, his words of encouragement, and the fact that he was so into her having orgasms, it was all so incredible. Beth put her hands over her face and involuntarily sighed aloud. 

The man was pure sexual dynamite. His lean, toned strong body was that of an adonis, his hands knew exactly how to caress every part of her and his cock was, oh, it was incredible. She sighed at the intensity of the orgasms he had made her have. But it wasn’t just the physical thing or that he was so god damned gorgeous. It was him.

She was enamoured with him. With how he was. She had learnt so much from him already and now she was learning so much more about him. He was slowly revealing little things to her and the more time they spent together, the longer she knew him, the more attractive he becoming to her. It was crazy.

Whether he wanted to or not, he was teaching her things about herself, building her confidence and encouraging her to come into her power in an organic way. And all the time he had been doing this, she had been drawing closer and closer to him. They were moths to each others flames, and the burning heat between them felt so reviving.

“Stop it Beth!” She chided herself aloud, trying to quieten her thoughts and her mind. She was beyond tired, her body ached in places she didn’t know it was possible to ache but her mind, oh her mind just kept replaying every single moment of her night with Rio.

.....................

 

Monday passed easily enough, taking the kids to school, grocery shopping, doing some accounting work for the Dr’s, heading to see Ruby during her lunch break to talk a few things over (she wanted to talk about ways in which she could heal the distance between her and Stan, so it didn't feel right to tell her about Rio, plus that would require wine as Ruby would freak out) and then before she knew it the kids were in bed, and she was sat with a small glass of bourbon sewing a button onto her favourite green blouse, so that she could wear it the next day. But she kept on looking at her phone. 

He said he would call and right now her phone was deathly silent. 

She kind of sort of knew the whole text protocol. She had messaged him last, so he should be the one to message her next. She picked up her phone, but then put it down again. He said he would call. He always did what he said he would. So she would have to wait. She sipped some more of her bourbon, and tried to focus on fixing her blouse.

The next morning she woke, feeling deflated at not having heard from him, which she knew was stupid. She had been stupid. It had just been sex to him. To her, it had been the best orgasmic experience of her entire life. But to him, it was just sex. 

She got up, showered and was then distracted by the whirlwind of getting herself ready, feeding the kids, checking their clothes and bags and getting them all out in time, so she could pick two other kids up and then deposit them all in school before heading home to clean up and so she forgot about checking her phone.

'Are you home?'

Beth was startled when she refreshed her screen to find she’d managed to miss his call and the message he’d sent twenty minutes earlier. She’d been busy clearing up the breakfast debris and trying to put the clean dishes away and she'd also had the radio on loud, so hadn't heard her phone buzzing on the counter top. 

Her heart skipped a beat in relief and she started typing a message back to him out of habit, but changed her mind.

She was going to put on her big girl panties and call him. Just as he had called her. But this was unknown territory and it scared her. Before Saturday night, she would never have called him. Messaged him, yes, but called him, hell no. That was way too personal.

It rang four painful, heart-wrenching times before he answered.

"Elizabeth."

Oh, the way he said her name, she felt a warmth radiate within. She didn't care she hadn't heard from him all of yesterday when he said her name like that.

“Hey, I was doing the dishes and didn't hear my phone. I'm home now, till 10.30?"

There was a pause in his answer, she could hear a gentle consistent humming noise in the background so she figured he was in his car. ”What's happening at 10.30?"

"My surgery shift."

"Right, right. I was near your neighbourhood, was gonna drop by if you were in." He spoke a little more slowly than usual.

"I'm in, if you want to drop by now?" She inwardly cringed at herself. Was she too keen? Did she sound desperate?

"I have to turn back a little.”

"So turn back.” She shrugged despite no one being there to see her.

He made a noise, almost like a chuckle. ”Okay, I'll be with you soon."

"Okay." 

He put the phone down without saying goodbye and she rolled her eyes before putting the phone on the kitchen island and springing into action. She quickly put the rest of the dishes away, straightened up the kitchen island, pushed the chairs back in place and checked to see that her make up was intact before smoothing her green shirt down. 

There was a knock at the door and she went to answer it, opening it, breathing in deeply. Ready to see him. And the sight of him did not disappoint. 

How was it legal for someone to be as dangerously hot as he was, she didn't know. He looked her in the eyes, neither of them smiled, they just looked, that instant connection and understanding. Seeing all of each other. 

She stood back from the door, letting him step inside and as he passed her she stared at his body, he had a dark jacket on over his burgundy button down shirt and dark jeans. She bit her lower lip, feeling an all consuming swell of desire for him.

She closed the door behind him, locking it and turned to him, he’d put his hand on his jaw and was teasingly appraising her work outfit with his eyes. And so she smiled at him, she couldn't help it, and then she was in his arms, and his lips were pressed to hers, his tongue was opening her mouth, one of his hands on the back of her neck and the other on her lower back, pulling her to him. 

Their hips crashed, their bodies meshed, their tongues collided and Beth felt that intense heat, the heat that she’d been radiating since Rio had become a part of her world. 

Somehow they managed to move from the doorway through her hall to her dining table without separating, without bumping into anything and he had lifted her onto the table and undone the top of her burgandy pants, tugging them down slightly before she’d even caught her breath from the effect of his first kiss. She was still lost in the feeling of the pressure of his lips on hers, his tongue teasing hers in a dance, his body against hers and his smell. 

Oh god his smell. So very masculine, and woodsy. Or something? Spicy? She didn’t know what it was, but it was so strong right now and it turned her on. She tried to remember that she should ask him what aftershave he wore later, but she was too distracted by him and what he was doing to her as he managed to lift her off the table for a second to tug her pants down and whip them from her body completely. 

She tried to undo his belt buckle but was clumsy and not fast enough for his liking, so he took control, unbuckling, unbuttoning and unzipping his jeans, pulling them down with his boxers in one fell swoop. Both were around his knees when he pulled her close, getting her ass to align with the edge of the table.

He looked away from her eyes to look down, pulling her panties to one side with one hand and with the other he guided his cock to her, giving her lady lips one quick tease with the velvety smooth and slightly wet head of his hard cock before he pressed inside her. 

Beth gasped, holding still, her hands on the edge of the table, her legs spread wide, feeling the intense rightness of him inside her. The wholeness and heat of them being joined together. He leaned his body into hers, one his hand moving to grip the back of her ass, his head nestled into her neck. 

She heard him take a few ragged breaths in, knowing that he was feeling what she was feeling, the intensity of their union, and he waited a moment before he found her mouth with his lips, kissing her so deeply, before he began to move inside her and they fell into a rhythm.

He pumped in and out of her, one hand on her ass and one on her shoulder blade as she held tight onto his shoulders, her breasts pressed up hard against his chest. They kissed and panted and groaned in unison at each other. He eventually picked the up the pace and reached for her hips, pulling her closer to him, so he could push against her sweet spot harder. 

Beth couldn't help but shudder slightly, his need for her was such a turn on, combined with the feeling of him inside her, the smell of him, the taste of his mouth, it was almost too much. She gasped his name into his mouth before her body shuddered in orgasm and she pulled her head away from his, so she could cry out loudly. He kissed her neck, gently as she clung onto him, gripping his shoulders, her pussy still squeezing his cock so hard that he let out a guttural moan and managed one more stroke in response, before spilling his seed deep inside her, pulling her tightly against him.

Rio leant into her then, spent, and she wrapped her arms around him. They stayed there, hot, sticky, breathing raggedly, both fully dressed from the waist up and holding tightly onto one another for what was only minutes but could have been hours. Neither of them wanted to let the other go.

But Rio pulled back a little, smiling that slightly cocky smile of his at her, and letting out a long and deep exhale.

‘What are you doing to me?”

“Um, well, I was just going to offer you coffee.”

Rio laughed and tilted his head to one side. “Got any orange juice?”

“What?”

He shrugged, speaking slowly. “I bin’ up all night, working, which was not expected, otherwise I would have called you. A coffee right now will keep me awake, an’ I need sleep.”

Beth looked closely at Rio, she could see the tiredness etched in his face now, just as she could hear it in his speech pattern. She raised a hand to his cheek, feeling his stubble. “Are you okay?”

“Yeh, nothing you need to worry about.” His coal black eyes looked into hers. 

He wasn't about to share whatever it was with her but he wasn't hiding the fact that he was exhausted from her. He had had a long night, he’d not been able to call her but he’d made her know that as soon as he had been free, he’d called and come around to see her. 

Beth smiled, feeling reassured by him and knowing not to press. “I’ve got oranges, so I’ll make you some fresh juice. Do you want some cereal or a bagel and cream cheese?”

Rio smiled a goofy smile at her and kissed her forehead. “That all sounds good Mama. Maybe a bagel?”

“Coming up.” She kissed him on the lips and they pulled apart, smiling sheepishly at each other. 

Beth walked into the kitchen shamelessly in her panties and wrinkled green blouse and Rio followed her, sitting on a bar stool after pulling his boxers and jeans back up. He pulled his jacket off and stretched, groaning before settling back down, watching her doing her thing. He leant his head on his hands, rubbing his eyes, before looking up as he took the orange juice off her appreciatively, thanking her as he drank it.

She passed his bagel over to him and poured herself a coffee before moving to the stool next to his. He really did look exhausted, contented, she admitted, smiling to herself, but exhausted all the same.

“Do you want to stay here for a little while, and sleep for a couple of hours when I’m at work? I mean, you look pretty tired, maybe you should rest now.”

“Nah, it’s just my post-coitus with Elizabeth face. You should be getting used to it by now.”

Beth laughed, blushing which made him laugh as she was being all sweet and coy although she was sat there half undressed having just fucked him. He looked at her as he chewed and swallowed, watching as she sipped her coffee, and he decided to let her in a little more.

“A business associate an’ I parted ways, so I lost a business I wasn’t expecting to, an’ had to do some damage control. I have a lot to sort out, an’ smooth over. It’s gonna be a long week.”

“Oh.” Beth swallowed, not sure what to say. Was this due to her, Annie and Ruby shopping him? She felt a pit of guilt in her gut just as she also realised that maybe ‘sort out’ was another euthanism for ‘handle it’? 

She looked at him. “Is this, this parting of ways due to your arrest?”

“Not directly.”

Beth looked down, feeling terrible. 

Rio reached his hand out and messed her hair up a little. “It probably would have happened anyway, that just speeded things up.”

Beth looked up at him. “Will everything else be okay for you? I mean, are you okay?”

He inhaled deeply but spoke softly at her. “I’m here with you, so I’m more than okay, an’ that’s all I want to think about right now.” He looked deeply into her eyes as he spoke.

She leant towards and kissed him gently. “You can stay here if you want to, you know that though, don’t you, that you can stay here?”

Rio nodded at her and licked his lower lip. “If I stay, I want you to stay with me. But I need sleep to function so I can wake up fresh with a clear business head. An' you, sweetheart, you need to go to work. You gonna have a free night later this week?”

“The kids are with Dean on Friday night.”

Rio tilted his head. “I gotta be somewhere till nine. Do you want to head over to mine for just after that? We can eat something?”

“Yes, I’d like that.” Beth beamed at him and he stood up, leaning down to kiss her deeply. 

He stroked her face before whispering. “It’s a date.”

Beth smiled at him as his face light up in response. He then grabbed his jacket and walked to the closest door, looking back at her briefly to give her an appreciative once over, before leaving silently. She took another sip of her coffee, contentedly smiling, warm and fuzzy from being with Rio and feeling so very pleased at having a Friday night date with him, that she stayed sat, starring blissfully out of the kitchen window before she realised the time. She ran to her bathroom to quickly shower the traces of their sex away before changing into a new work outfit and hurrying out of the house, late for work.

As she drove she wondered about what she could do to help him and she thought back to that night two months before, when she had brainstormed ideas. One of her ideas Annie has said a flat no to, reminding her of Rio’s refusal to help them but Beth knew that it could actually work. The beauty salons. Nancy’s beauty salons. Prosperous, with expensive treatments, in the fancier parts of the city. No one would ever think of looking at them. They were ripe for the picking.


	8. Queens and Kings -  Part Eight

Rio had sent her messages each night but other than that, he had been silent. He hadn’t been able to meet for their usual catch up, so when Friday morning came, Beth had butterflies.

Not that her week had been without incident, she had had to deal with Mary Pat. Mary Pat had been quiet for a while, as when Beth had told her about Boomer attacking Annie, and added in details of all of their own personal struggles, which meant Mary Pat had finally known about Sara’s illness and operation, she had had the grace to back off. But she had four boys and was struggling. 

Beth decided to deal with her in a different way. She said Mary Pat could work for them, but for far, far less than she had been blackmailing them for. Mary Pat had snorted but agreed to come in the office to talk, and Beth timed it with a drop off from Mr Cisco and Bullet. 

Mary Pat’s eyes had practically jumped out of her head when she saw the guys and she remained silent until they had gone, but as Bullet passed Mary Pat, he touched his gun in his waist band. Mary Pat went deathly pale. 

Beth had smiled sweetly at her then and explained that those guys worked for their boss. And that because Boomer had informed on their boss, their boss had called them back into work. And there was no getting out of working for him. They were trapped and not earning what Mary Pat thought they were. 

Beth had then confessed that their boss had also expressed an interest in meeting Mary Pat, as he personally liked to go to each of his employees homes and have a chat. Mary Pat would no longer be answering to the ladies, she would be answering to the Gang Leader directly. 

To her credit, Mary Pat took the warning well. She said she would work as a secret shopper, but only legitimately, and only during the school term time. She did not want anything to do with the gang. And she had heard about Boomer. 

He had been found, drunk and high having crashed his car. His injuries were worse than expected from just being inside the car in the crash, but he was unconscious when found, so he couldn’t say what had happened to him. Which meant he couldn’t explain the books showing his involvement of embezzlement at ‘Fine & Frugal’ as well as a mixed bag of drugs that were suspiciously similar to the drugs found planted in Annie’s locker. The locker that Boomer had a key to.

Whilst the accounts were being investigated and Boomer was on indefinite leave, a secret camera had been discovered in the staff room, and it led back to Boomer. He had been using it to film the ladies getting changed. This led to three women saying he had pestered them for sex and when Annie added herself to the list, the police dropped the drug charges against her, accepting that he had planted them on her because she spurned his advances. 

Boomer was on bail, hiding out in his house, awaiting his trial and trying to heal his broken ribs, face and leg that were more due to a rumble with Rio’s boys than the crashed car.

So Beth agreed the terms of Mary Pat’s contract and Ruby sorted the rest out. Perhaps Mary Pat knew too much. But as far as Mary Pat was concerned, the gang knew about her too. 

Beth had also told Ruby about sleeping with Rio on their girls night that week, and Ruby had downed what wine remained in her glass and refused to speak till Annie had refilled it.

“Girl! Do you have death wish? At what point did you think that sleeping with gang friend was a good idea?”

Beth shrugged. “It just kind of happened.”

“It just kinda happened? No! It didn’t just happen. What is it you’re always saying? That it was a choice? So, you made a choice, a batshit crazy one. Beth! He’s a crime lord! Our asses are owned by him and indebted to him forever more and you reward him with sex?”

“We won’t be indebted forever, just until things are settled and yes it was a choice and not one I regret. Believe me, it was a mutually rewarding experience.”

Ruby gave Beth one of her withering looks and took another gulp of her wine.

“Ruby, he gave me seven mind blowing, out of body experience orgasms in one night.”

Ruby’s eyes went wide as saucers. She took another gulp of her wine and put the glass down. “Really? He did that for you?”

Annie, who had remained silent, watching Beth and Ruby volley laughed. “You can kind of see he’d be able to do that, I mean, he looks like an athlete, not that I’ve been looking and not that I ever, ever want to think about him and you in that way.”

Ruby frowned at Annie and then looked heavenward before speaking less sharply. “Okay, okay, I can’t hold that against you. You really deserved that, you really did. And Rio and you have been making eyes at each other for so long, don’t think Annie and I haven’t seen it, but girl, this is some serious messed up shit.”

Beth had nodded but allowed herself to be pressed for some juicier details, although not too many, what Rio and she had shared was still private between them and she wanted to keep it that way. They hadn’t talked about what they were doing and Beth didn’t know if this was just to get it out of their systems before life went back to normal. 

As how could they sustain whatever it was that they were doing? They were from different worlds, totally different worlds. The man was a complete enigma. She however, was apparently an open book. And work wise, well, they were now both a little in each others pocket. And Beth couldn’t deny that him being in her world and her being in his was what had been fuelling most of her thought space for weeks now.

She had totally and unexpectedly fallen for him. She had to keep that quiet, she couldn’t tell Ruby or Annie, she would tell them it was just amazing sex if pressed, but could she hide the depth of her feelings from Rio? She wondered about this as she walked through one of the better lingerie departments in a store in town.

She had dropped the kids off in school, gone straight to the secret shopper office for three hours and had left at one to get herself a new outfit and new underwear, which in truth was just as much for her as Rio. She wanted to feel her very best. And she also wanted to tease Rio a little.

So she bought a matching lacy set in electric blue lace, with a garter belt and fine black stockings with a dotted seam along the back. She bought a wrap around dress in a luxurious silk mix material in burgundy with small black polka dots as the she told herself she would wear it again and so overlooked the cost. 

With her new purchases she had gone home, straightened the house, packed for the kids night away, collected them from school, drove them to Deans parents and then hurried home. She spent three hours getting herself ready, slowly sipping a bourbon, just the one, to calm her nerves. She drove to his slowly with her overnight bag, having dropped a bottle of wine around to her neighbour as a thank you to them for taking Buddy out that evening and the following morning.

And then Beth was outside his house. His car was in the driveway but she wasn’t sure if she should park there, so she parked a little further down the road and walked back to his place in her heels and her black jacket. She knocked on his door, he didn't have a doorbell, he had a traditional old fashioned brass knocker and this for some reason made her laugh, though she had to wait a minute or two before he answered the door.

When he opened the door he was half undressed, wearing just his jeans and he was finishing buckling up his belt. Beth took a deep inhale at the sight of his torso; lean and muscular with pale honey skin glistening slightly from the shower he had clearly just taken.

She swallowed before she spoke. “Do you always answer the door like this?”

He laughed and slightly inclined his head to the right. “I got cameras, come on in. I’ll finish getting dressed.”

He reached out and took Beth’s bag off her as she stepped in and she muttered quietly. “Don’t get dressed on my account.”

He gave her the side eye as he shut the door and locked it, putting her bag on the bottom step of his staircase and turning back to her, he pulled her close and kissed her deeply and hungrily. When he pulled away, she was slightly breathless and she was surprised as he slipped her jacket off her shoulders and stood back from her. He looked her up and down and then walked around her till he was standing in front of her again, licking his bottom lip. 

God, without even trying he managed to both turn her on and know exactly how to make her feel like the most desirable creature in Detroit.

“Damn Mama. You’re all dressed up in silk an’ wrapped like a present that I’m gonna enjoy untying later. This dress is a little bit sharper than the one you wore at Kenny’s party.” He stepped close to her again, smiling as she looked up at him in surprise, he’d remembered what she wore? 

But all other thoughts left her as he began kissing her neck and Beth moaned, unable to help it. A heat that only Rio could ignite spread throughout her limbs. His kisses moved up her neck to her lips and she opened her mouth for him, probing his tongue with her own, pulling him to her as she put her hands on his lower back. He made a groaning noise as their kiss deepened and she felt a familiar bulge pressing through his jeans on her lower abdomen. He stopped kissing her to sigh.

“You’re just too hot to handle. Gimme me a minute, I’m gonna finish putting clothes on, we have a table at 9.30 an’ they won’t wait for us, an’ you’re dressed so beautifully, let me take you out before we continue this, yeh?”

Beth nodded, breathing deeply and she let him go, so he could put her jacket back on and then she watched as he ran up the stairs, two at a time with ease, her bag in his hand. She let out a sigh, and slipping off her heels, she padded into his den, to take a closer look at his art and photos, but she didn’t get far as Rio, true to his word, was back in the hallway, tying his shoe laces. He had a black sweater on over what she could see was a white t-shirt and he was wearing his favourite white gold chain.

She smiled, he looked cool as always and she blushed a little as she approached him, to slip her heels back on, wondering if she was overdressed. But when he looked up at her, with his cheeky smile, and desire in his eyes, she let that thought slip away. 

He drove for just over 20 minutes to a small place nestled slightly behind another building in an up-and-coming area of town, which was perhaps a little edgy of her, but he held her hand as he took her inside the restaurant. It was cosy and very clearly the cool place to be, with understated beat-led music in the background and waiting staff that were all tattooed, but the diners were a mixed bunch of hipsters and some suits. Rio had managed to get the best table there, a corner table, just slightly out of the way of everyone else and it was completely lit by candlelight. 

They ordered an array of small dishes to share, Rio was a bit of a feeder as well as a foodie so he was the perfect dining companion for her. He sipped on a juice as the dishes came but made Beth order wine, which she didn’t complain about, and they sat as close as they could, feet touching under the table.

Beth hadn’t worried about what they would talk about, Rio knew so much about everything, he read the best part of two proper newspapers each day so was totally clued up on local and international news as well as art, culture and of course, business. Beth’s own general knowledge was good and she also kept up with the news, so they wouldn’t be without anything to say to one another.

Rio also opened up a little more to her: he spoke about his immediate family, he had a brother and a sister who he was close to, and when in school he excelled at math and sciences, subjects where there was always an answer, but he had also loved woodwork.

Beth's heart expanded a little when he told her he was a member of a little woodwork workshop collective that he visited when he could and he had made a couple of pieces of furniture. She’d asked if she could see them and he laughed, shrugging an okay at her. 

When it got to dessert time, Rio asked Beth if she wanted to get it to go and she nodded. They got a chilli chocolate torte to share and Rio payed for the meal, though Beth asked to go dutch, he said a firm ‘Nah’ and shook his head at her. As they stepped out of the restaurant he pulled her close for a kiss that left her wanting more and he drove them back to his, his hand resting on her knee, squeezing it. When they stopped at red lights, they kissed and by the time Rio pulled in his drive, Beth was wet with desire.

They were soon in his hallway, shoeless, jacket-less, and she was in his arms and they were burning each others exposed skin with kisses and caresses. With her body pressed against him he snaked a hand under her dress and trailed it up her thigh, stopping abruptly when he felt her stocking-tops and garter belt.

“Shit, Elizabeth.” He groaned and then he practically dragged up his stairs into his bedroom and had undone her dress and thrown on his lounge chair within seconds. He stood back, pulling his sweater and t-shirt off in one go and then he surveyed her electric blue lace underwear, his eyes wide with desire.

He shook his head, licking his lower lip and he approached her, gently pushing her back to the bed. He sat her down, lowering her to her back, and then he got on his knees and pulled her down the bed slowly, so her ass was on the edge. He then slipped his hands on her panties and slowly pulled them down, gently around the garter belt and stockings and once they were off, he lifted her legs so they rested on his shoulders.

It was one of the most erotically charged moments of Beth’s entire life but for one thing. She had never climaxed or even gotten near climaxing through oral sex. It just didn’t work for her. It never had and it never would and as she knew Rio was a little obsessive about making her orgasm, she felt she should tell him now, so he wouldn’t be disappointed.

“Rio.” Her voice came out a hoarse whisper as he trailed kisses up her thighs.

“Rio?” She leant herself up on her elbows and looked at him.

He didn’t stop working his way slowly to the place that was calling out for his hands and cock, but he murmured into her skin so she knew he was listening.

“Rio, I can’t come from that, I won’t come from that. I, I just think you should probably know.”

He stopped kissing to look at her, curiously.

“You’ve only ever slept with one guy, right?”

“Well, you make it two guys.”

He laughed and licked his bottom lip suggestively. “Right, so maybe the old guys technique wasn’t what it should be?”

Beth frowned, she hadn’t thought of that exactly. “I just know how you feel about trying.”

Rio laughed again and pressed his thumb against her clit making Beth took a sharp inhale. “Relax, lie back, let me taste you Elizabeth.”

Beth swallowed, feeling Rio’s circling movements on her clit and she did as he commanded, lying back, feeling the soft cotton of his sheets cocoon her upper body as his kisses tingled the tops of her thighs and the thumb that was teasing her clit was soon replaced with his tongue. 

Her breathing was shallow, she was turned on, feeling him suck her. God he was sucking her clit and then he stopped as his tongue flickered over her slit again and again and then his tongue was inside her, and he was groaning and Beth found herself moaning in response. He pulled his face away from her, moving it up her body to her mouth, he put his thumb back on her clit whilst he whispered how much she turned him on, how good she tasted, how her wetness made his so hard and then he kissed her on the mouth, so that she could taste what he tasted, her salty sweetness, before he moved back down her body.

Beth couldn’t help but be totally turned on. Rio wanted her. He wanted all of her. She gasped as he sucked on her clit and used two fingers to massage her slit. Beth was done. With her legs over his shoulders and his face firmly pressed between her legs, her clit being suckled and slit being teased she came crying out, shuddering against his face.

Rio stopped suckling as her orgasm hit, instead he licked her pussy, licking her come, before he eased her legs off his shoulders. He kissed his way up her body, suckling her nipples though the lace of her bra before he unhooked it and threw it on the floor, letting it be followed by his pants and boxers. 

Beth all the while lay in shock on the bed, he had done it again. He had totally taken her by surprise and made her experience and feel things she didn't know she could. When his body pressed on hers again and his mouth found hers, his mouth slick with the taste of her orgasm, she sighed.

“Do you trust me now?” But it wasn’t really a question.

“I trust you.” She answered as he sheathed himself inside her and she gasped, and pulled her legs up, pressing her feet into his ass cheeks as they found their rhythm. And it was a total body and soul immersion. They took their time, slowing down and speeding up, changing positions so Rio could appreciate the garter and stockings and then again so he could appreciate her breasts, but she couldn’t help but come when riding him and he let her squeeze him into orgasm.

They both slumbered for a bit after that, orgasm dozy after a long session. When they came to, Beth bit the bullet and kissed her way down Rio’s finely chiseled torso, pulling the sheets away from him as she moved. She had teased his arousal with her mouth before but only for a minute or two, Rio had been too impatient and wanted to be inside her, but she knew now he would let her do more.

So she kissed his thighs, as her hands stroked his stiffening cock, then she lifted his cock slightly and licked his balls, taking one at a time in her mouth to suck and Rio groaned aloud, holding onto the sheet beneath him. His arousal encouraged her, so she moved her lips to the tip of his cock, teasing his opening with her tongue, tasting their sex on him as she flicked his head over and over with her tongue whilst holding his base firmly with her right hand.

She looked up at Rio who had managed to sit on his elbows, wanting to watch her but struggling to control himself as he was so turned on. When she saw she had his attention, she opened her mouth a little wider and slipped down his cock, her tongue flickering along the underside of his hard shaft as her hand gripped him firmly, moving in unison with her mouth. She let him slide as far inside her mouth and as deeply as he could go.

“Fuuuucccccck!” Rio cried out and he watched her for a little longer before he had to lie back, unable to take all the stimulation. He tried to hold off, to enjoy the feel of her hot mouth, flickering tongue and the tight grip of her hand swiftly sliding up and down his shaft in unison with her lips but he came soon after crying out her name.

She swallowed his warm, salty sperm, and smiled as she did it because it didn’t taste hideous or funky. This part of the act had used to gross her out with Dean but with Rio, it wasn't a dutiful act of love or kindness, she was more than happy to do it. She wanted to taste him. She wanted to bring him to the brink as he had done for her.

Besides, the man was a basic health freak, he barely drank booze, he didn't smoke, he didn't do drugs, and he ate well. Swallowing his sperm was no hardship, and there was no weird aftertaste surprise. She kissed her way back up his body, careful to avoid his nipples as they were super sensitive after he came, and she lay beside him as he looked at her, shaking his head.

He pulled her close to kiss her, unafraid of tasting himself as she had been unafraid of tasting herself and he stroked her face with his fingertips. She moved her hands to his chest and they lay there for a while, staring at each other.

He spoke very softly, breaking their reverie. “Elizabeth, what are we doing?”

“What do you mean?” She knew what he meant of course but she wanted him to say it.

“What do you want from this?”

She swallowed. But was honest. He could read her like an open book anyway. “You.”

He said nothing to that, but continued to look deeply in her eyes, stroking the side of her face.

“What do you want from this?” Her voice quivered slightly.

“You.” His answer was plain and simple, like hers had been.

She moved closer to him again and they kissed and he held her close to him.

“Being close to me can come with complications. So we need to be sensible. The FBI think we’re just fucking but this is more than that to me, an’ you know it. But if we start going to each others friends an’ family special occasions, if we come out as a couple, they’ll keep tabs on you a whole lot more than if they think we’re just hitting it. An' they won't be the only ones taking an interest in you.”

Beth swallowed, she understood what he was saying but a lump had formed in her throat.

“So maybe we should keep this low profile. Not make it obvious in front of my boys, or associates, or your PTA ladies an’ shoppers. I wanna to see you every day if I can but my hours aren’t always school friendly, so it’ll be a few times a week. But I wanna talk to you every day. I wanna know all the mundane shit going on in your life an’ when we're together like this, no business talk. Can you handle it, if it’s like it is now, like this?”

The relief Beth felt was palpable, she thought he’d been about to end it, to tell her that this was only for show. She pulled back from him and looked in his eyes. Yes, she could handle it. But in truth, she also needed to know if he would be monogamous and she didn’t 100% know how to ask.

“I can handle it, can you?”

“For you, yeh. I’m gonna do all I can to make this work. To keep you. You do something to me, you know that? An’ there ain’t nobody else in my life Elizabeth, it’s only you. It was always only gonna be you.”  
His confession took her by surprise. She lay still a moment before she leant up and kissed him, deeply, before she whispered. “And it’s only you, for me.”

“Good.” He kissed her back and then dozed, and they both fell into a deep sleep, side by side, warm from their intimacy and honesty.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So... I had a day free and couldn't help myself but add to this and clear up both Mary Pat and Boomer - as what will they do with them in season two?... Hope you guys have enjoyed reading it... another chapter or two will be added in the next week!


	9. Queens and Kings - Part Nine

“No.”

“Annie, come on, you know it makes sense.”

“No, it makes no sense.”

Beth frowned and looked at Ruby who was staying quiet, but her heavenwards eye roll suggested that it was something that Annie had to okay. They were all in Beth’s kitchen, drinking coffee and catching up there instead of in the small office they had rented above a coffee chain, which had a shared meeting room space with three other small offices in the building. It suited their needs perfectly being cheap enough, an easy distance between them all and in an area where people could easily drop in and see them. But they still liked to gather at each others houses.

Beth swallowed and continued, in a reasoning tone. “It makes perfect sense Annie. I mean Nancy has three salons, they’re super successful, it will be easy to put in a few extra bookings every week. I mean, no one’s going to look into a beauty salon whose clientele are bored and rich housewives. And it’s not like major crime is being committed, it’s just money that we’re making legitimate. You know, the books will record that more botox is being bought and administered, and a that a few other expensive treatments are taking place than actually are. We can do this, easily. No one will look into it.”

“No.”

“Why not?”

“Because I said no.”

“But it’s Nancy. Nancy who makes you take your shoes off in her and Gregg’s house. Who complains about your hair oils? Who sued you for custody, Annie.”

Annie shook her head and looked away. Beth looked at Ruby again who shrugged.

“Okay, why not? Explain your reasoning to me.”

Annie turned back to Beth. “Because she’s married to Gregg, and we already stole from her and it went wrong. And I just don’t want to do that, I mean she’s, she’s well you know doing the whole IVF thing and is stressed and I just don’t wanna get her involved.”

“She won’t know it’s us. And, the botox deal only went wrong as you miscommunicated with the boy dealer...”

Annie butted in. “Beth, I said no.”

Ruby spoke then. “But it’s not a bad idea Annie, and I didn’t think you were in Nancy’s corner.”

Annie sighed. “It’s a complicated situation.”

Ruby looked at Annie incredulously “Girl, have you forgotten we’re trying to pay back the Gang boss and the more we business opportunities we give him, the sooner we’re let off the hook. So we can start living normal lives again.”

Annie looked a little exasperated but turned from the girls and walked to the coffee machine. “Refill, anyone?”

Beth narrowed her eyes, she knew Annie had been keeping something under wraps but she hadn’t pressed her as quite frankly, she had had her hands full with the Dr’s surgery, the secret shopper admin, her children, the logistics of parenting with Dean who hadn’t yet moved out of his parents, and trying to progress with a divorce. But in all honesty, it had been just over two weeks since Rio had first taken her back his house and proved to her how compatible they were together and so he had occupied every single spare thought she had. She was totally intoxicated by him and was doing her very best to keep it as much under wraps as possible.

And she knew he was doing the same with her. The kids were only spending one night a week with Dean, so Rio had taken to turning up at her house late in the night and would then leave, when they were both sated a couple of hours later. He had yet to spend a full night at hers, and neither of them wanted to broach him being there in the morning when the kids woke up. 

Besides, the pattern looked better for their cover story. They were fucking, rather than actually being a monogamous but secret sort-of-relationship. It was just amazing, mind-blowing, out-of-body-experience sex between the bad boy with a soccer Mom fetish and the good girl with a really bad boy crush. 

So, Beth had been distracted, but now Annie was in-front of her and it was time to ask. “Annie, what’s going on?”

“Nothing, so no takers?” Annie brandished the coffee pot.

Ruby put her mug out so Annie poured the liquid magic in and then returned the coffee pot to the warmer.

Beth decided to be more direct. “Annie, what’s going on between you and Gregg.”

“Whaaaaatt?” Ruby almost spat her coffee back into her mug.

“Nothing!”

“Annie, what haven’t you told us? I mean, you managed to sort out the custody issue, so you split time evenly and that wasn't decided through lawyers, so he and you have clearly worked a couple of things out.”

“What are you saying Beth?”

“I’m not saying anything, I’m trying to find out why you’re being a little bit secretive?”

“Says the woman who banged our boss, the Gang Boss.”

Ruby then interjected. “Yeah, she’s crazy but we’ve all agreed that, and this isn't about her, this is about you. And quite frankly, girl, you have been a little bit more, well, wise of late.”

“Oh, please, that’s patronising!”

“No it’s not, I’m just saying that you’ve been a little bit different of late.”

“Well, that’s what nearly losing your kid, getting a felony for a drugs offence you didn't commit and then getting cleared of it does to you. Not to mention that our working lives are 50% crime. Living a double life makes you wise up.”

Beth took a sip of her coffee. “Well, at least it’s 50 for you guys, for me it’s 90%.”

Ruby and Annie looked at one another: Rio hadn’t let any of them off.

“Okay,” Annie relented. “Well, I didn't tell you guys as it happened when there was so much going on nine weeks back but I realised that I had missed my period. And then another week passed and I still hadn’t had it. So I told Gregg. And he bought me a test and came over and we decided that if I was, that we would give it another go.”

Beth and Ruby stared at Annie, open mouthed and silent.

“But it was negative, my period was just super late because of the stress. It was weird as I should have been so relieved but I wasn’t. I was actually really sad about it. Which is stupid because Gregg and I were not good for each other at all, especially at the end. But I realised that maybe I do want another child and the only person I’d want it with is Gregg. So I did what I usually did and I told him we were lucky and that he could go back to Nancy and no one would ever need to know.”

Annie started to cry and Beth and Ruby were at either side of her, hugging her in seconds.

“But it gets worse, as three weeks ago when he dropped Sadie off, he said that he was still in love with me and he realised he didn’t want to have a family with Nancy, he couldn't imagine having a child with anyone but me. But we weren’t suited, as we couldn’t make it work. And then we slept together again.”

“Have you had a period?” Ruby asked, looking wide eyed at Beth over Annie’s head.

“Yes, but we slept together again last week.”

Beth squeaked. “Are you trying to get pregnant?”

“I think unintentionally but intentionally, so yes.”

Ruby balked at them then. “Oh my good GOD! What on earth happened to you two? What crazy coffee have you both been on? Annie, getting pregnant by a man who you left as he was such a dick to you, is not a sensible plan. He made you cry everyday for two years and Beth, sleeping with our boss who has literally held a gun to your head is just insane. I don’t know what’s going on with you too, but you both need to sort your shit out.”

Beth nodded. “I know. I’ve been insane. What I did was insane. I just want us to get through this part and then in a year, maybe, we’ll be free of all the crime baggage.”

“If we haven’t been caught and thrown in jail by then.” Ruby was a little exasperated.

“Listen, I’m covering our tracks as best as I can. If we’re smart, and don’t do anything too risky, and keep our paperwork up to date and as clear as possible, we will be fine. I mean, Rio’s fine and he’s into far worse and far more things than we are.”

Annie interjected. “Yeah, but he has a fancy pants lawyer.”

Beth shrugged. “We can afford that too now.”

Ruby nodded. “I guess but you two, seriously, you need to think things through. Take it from the woman who is doing everything in her power to make her husband trust her again and it’s still not enough.”

Annie spoke. “I thought it was getting better?”

“It is, but so slowly.”

“You have to give Stan time, he’s one of the really good ones.”

Ruby sighed. “I know. I thought I was one of the good ones too, but I think I now the truth, I’m just not as much of a good person as I thought I was, because I can’t blame anyone else for the position I’m in.”

Neither Annie nor Beth could say anything to that, they had all done things that weren’t really conventionally good. Could any of them really consider themselves to be one of the good people anymore? They had all made their choices and here they were, dealing with them.

\----------

“This isn’t in place of tomorrow, is it?” Beth had asked when Rio appeared at her bedroom patio door just after midnight.

“Nah.” Rio had said, shutting and locking the door behind him and making sure the blinds were down.

“Good, because, well, we can talk about those things, tomorrow.”

“Yeh, no business now, right?” Rio walked towards her in the prowling way he did, looking her up and down. She was in her cosy print pyjamas, not exactly dressed for a night of hot action.

“Not expecting company, tonight?” He stopped in front of her.

She arched an eyebrow at him. “Oh, I wore these especially for you.”

He took one of her hands in his and kissed it and she looked at him, expectantly. 

“I wore something for you too.”

Beth looked puzzled. “What?”

“Your panties.”

“What?”

Rio smirked at her then and pulled her close to kiss her deeply, their tongues met and danced without ceremony. He pulled away from her, softly chuckling. “Whatever you’re into is cool by me.”

“So you’ve been working all day and half the night with your tough boys in my tiny, lace panties?”

Rio grinned at her. “Nah, but I coulda bin. Did the thought turn you on?”

Beth started laughing. “If you want to wear them, then, be my guest. So long as I get to see you, I won’t complain.”

Rio kissed her again, stepping closer to her and putting his hands on her hips before speaking huskily. “You wanna know what I want?”

“Er, world peace?”

“Potentially, but before that, I wanna feel you.” Rio kissed the side of Beth’s neck sending shivers down her spine. “I wanna feel deep inside you. How does that sound, Elizabeth?” 

Beth swallowed and tried not to smile. “Okay.” 

Rio pulled back from her, and narrowed his eyes, giving her a cool look. 

She broke into a grin. “Okay, okay! That sounds incredible and there is genuinely nothing on the planet that could appeal to me more right now.”

Rio’s mouth twitched into a smile. “Then it’s your lucky night, Mama.”

Beth leant up and gently kissed Rio, before putting her hands on his chest so as to undo the zip of his hoodie, wanting him as much as he wanted her. He wrapped his arms around her after shrugging off his hoody, pulling her close, pressing their bodies together in heated alignment, kissing her slowly, pushing his tongue against hers and Beth sighed as she felt his familiar bulge through his jeans.

She pulled back from their kiss to whisper into his neck. “I didn’t realise all I needed to do was wear pyjamas to turn you on.”

“Pretty much anything you wear turns me on.” Rio started trailing kisses down her neck and moved his hands to her pyjama bottoms, slipping them under the waistband to cup her ass cheeks. “You make the simplest knitwear x-rated.”

Beth laughed and tried to undo some of Rio’s shirt buttons. “I had noticed you checking out some of my preferred sweaters in our early acquaintance.”

“Yeh, an’ I noticed the way you’d blush sometimes when you looked at me early on.”

Beth shook her head. “I did not!”

“Really?” Rio slid one of his hands under her ass cheek and gently brushed her slit with his index finger.

Beth gasped and went still, already totally turned on.

“So you didn’t look at me in that way? I remember the first time you blushed, it was in your kitchen an’ you were sipping your bourbon an’ you wanted back in.” He pressed his finger harder against her and Beth let out a low moan.

“Maybe, I was just nervous.” Beth tried to kiss Rio but he moved his face back slightly, smiling at her.

“Maybe, an’ maybe a little excited?” He pushed his finger inside her and watched as Beth took a deep inhale, before she pressed her chest against him, her eyes widening, her cheeks colouring. “You’re so wet for me woman, you know how much that turns me on?”

Beth bit her bottom lip, looking deep into his shining coal black eyes. “Show me, Rio, show me.”

He pulled his finger out of her so as to grab underneath her ass cheeks, and gripping hard, he lifted her off the floor and carried her the short distance to the bed, where he spent the next hour slowly and deeply making love to her, refusing to let her come when she was repeatedly so close. Instead he prolonged their pleasure until she practically begged him to give her release. Their orgasms where then so intense and satisfying that they both fell asleep soon after, legs intertwined, bodies slick with sweat, heartbeats just about slowing.

And then...

“Mommy?”

Beth was instantly awake, as all parents are when awoken suddenly by their little ones. “What is it sweetie?”

Emma’s voice quivered. “I had a nightmare.” 

Beth sat up, realising that she was very butt naked and that Rio was still in her bed. Keeping her voice as soothing sounding as possible, she turned to try and hide Rio but he had already moved from the bed - how? “Oh, don’t worry angel, shall I come upstairs and make it better, get you tucked in?”

“Mm-hm.” Came Emma’s response.

Beth manoeuvred to the edge of the bed, and then walked to her door, where her light bathrobe was, she grabbed it, slipping on and tying a knot around her waist as Emma looked up at her. Though it was barely light outside, Emma saw she had no clothes on.

“Why aren’t you in your pyjamas, Mommy?”

“Mommy got really hot in the night and took them off.”

Beth swore she heard a snigger but she took Emma’s hand and led her back upstairs to bed, sitting with her for 20 minutes until Emma drifted off. Emma would have to get up again in just over an hour, but she need the sleep. Beth closed Emma’s door and quietly walked back downstairs. 

She could smell coffee brewing so she walked into the kitchen, smiling sleepily as she saw Rio leaning against the kitchen island, fully dressed in last nights clothes and looking at one of the kids school books.

“Where did you disappear to? You slipped out of bed so fast I thought you'd already left without saying goodbye.”

He turned to look at her and gave her body an appreciative scan. “Part of my profession, you gotta be fast. An’ I’ll always say goodbye to you, sweetheart.”

“You put coffee on for me?”

He shrugged. “It’s near six, thought you might need it.”

Beth walked up to him, putting her hands on his shoulders and smiling her brightest. “Thank you.”

“My pleasure.” He put his hands on either side of her cheeks and brushed away the sleep from her eyes, making her blush a little, but he wasn't embarrassed by the act of intimacy. He leant down and kissed her gently on the lips. 

“Did you ever get Kenny a tutor?”

Beth looked up at Rio, shaking her head. “Not yet, he could ask me, or his Dad to help.”

“Nah, it don’t work the same if your parents tutor you.”

“Are you volunteering? I mean I’m happy to pay but I don’t think your services come cheap?”

“Does Kenny wanna learn how to cook books?”

“If you got him to that level, I’d be very happy.”

“You would?” Rio shrugged and tilted his head to one side, looking down at her breasts as he spoke again. “We could come to some kinda arrangement.”

“Oh, could we?” Beth laughed at him and kissed him lightly. “Do you want some of your coffee, or can I get you breakfast?” 

He hadn’t been in her kitchen in the morning like this, he’d always left after they’d had sex, or before it got light so as to not surprise her kids or neighbours. Having him in her kitchen first thing made her happier than she thought it would.

Rio looked down at her face, and he smiled, fully content. “Coffee would be good. Still a bit early for me to eat.” 

Beth spoke quietly then. “You could have breakfast with kids and me. I feed them around 7.50.”

Rio leaned forward and kissed her softly, opening her mouth with his lips and he gently teased her tongue with his own as he put his hands on the side of her face. 

This woman never failed to surprise him. She was savvier and smarter than she appeared, she had shown him that again and again and he couldn't help but admire it in her. She had a great business instinct and a surprisingly good mind for crime, even if it needed honing and guiding. She was brave. She was thorough. She was passionate. But she could lose her cool too easily. And yet he was completely and utterly thrown by her. She had gotten so deep under his skin. 

He should have wanted her dead for what she had done to him 10 weeks ago, but instead, he had come to see things a little differently. He had misjudged her, and so he needed to be taught a lesson. Besides, he had wanted to get into more legitimate and profitable businesses to clean and launder his money and she had provided the means and much more. He had come to understand her more than he would admit. In fact now, he understood what she wanted before she did.

And he also felt so much more for her than he could admit. She had just told him she wanted him to meet all her children. It made him both the happiest man on the planet at that moment in time and also, the most apprehensive because of it. He would meet the kids, but maybe not first thing in the morning. Maybe one day soon, after school or something. 

He pulled back from her and licked his bottom lip, looking deep into her bright blue eyes. “Coffee would be good but I have to take a rain-check on the breakfast. I gotta be somewhere before I meet this hot-damn business associate of mine. She keeps me on my toes, so I better get cleaned up before I meet her.”

“You can take a rain-check. The offer will remain open, for you, but not for the hot associate. I'm not sure about the sound of her.”

Rio smirked at her as she moved away to pour them both a coffee. She walked back to him and he took a mug out of her hands. 

“Thank you.”

Beth shook her head. “What for?”

But Rio didn’t say he just smiled at her and took a sip of his coffee.

\-----------

They met again in the early afternoon, Rio had told her to head to a park he knew of and they took Buddy for a walk and talked business. Beth told Rio about the beauty salons but said that Annie had reservations due to her relationship with Nancy. And that Nancy couldn’t find out that Annie had anything to do with this. 

Rio had thought about it for a minute and asked if Beth had worked out exactly how profitable it would actually be. And who, if not her, would manage this? He couldn't do it, and Annie and Ruby weren’t yet up to the task. 

But the connection was there so they should use that, but make sure that Nancy either was on-board with turning a blind eye or that she wouldn’t find out about the real nature of the extra business. If Beth could work that all out, then they could go ahead. But he liked the sound of the business, it would be a good cover.

Beth had smiled then, she felt it deep within when Rio praised her still and when they walked to a wooded and sheltered section of the park, Beth spent a good 15 minutes kissing him after pushing him against a tree. She then left him by his car to go and collect the kids from school only when she got home, she found that Agent Turner was waiting for her, on her doorstep.

“Agent Turner.” She smiled brightly at him.

“Jimmy, Mrs Boland. Can I come in and talk to you.”

Beth looked at the Agent and looked back to her kids who had just run in the house. “Now? I’ve just got them back from school and I have to do their snacks and guide their homework and then cook and you know I’m on my own. May we speak another day?”

“Tomorrow morning suit you?”

“Yes, 10? I’m at work at 11.”

“Sure, I’ll come here. Have a good evening, Mrs Boland.”

Beth watched the Agent walk away before she stepped inside the house to see to the kids, wondering what on earth he wanted this time. And wondering how long she should leave it before telling Rio or the girls.

The rest of the afternoon had passed along without incident, but at eight, Beth got a call frantic call from Ruby. Stan was in hospital. He and his partner had stepped in on something they shouldn’t have and Stan’s partner had been shot. Ruby wanted to join them in hospital and wanted to leave Sara and Harry with Beth.

Within thirty minutes Ruby had brought the kids around and Beth had tucked them into bed in Emma’s room, putting Emma in Kenny’s spare bunk bed. She had hugged Ruby and told her to call or message when she could and then sent her on her way. She then went into the kitchen and waited anxiously. Annie came over, having dropped Sadie off at Greggs, and she poured them each a bourbon.

Two hours later, Ruby called, and Beth put her on speaker phone.

“What happened, is Stan okay?”

“Yes and no. He’s in shock, he’s in deep shock, but he’s been checked over and he can go home. And his partner is doing as okay as he can for being shot in the shoulder. He lost a lot of blood, but he’ll make it.”

Annie swallowed. “Do you know what happened.”

“Well, that’s the weird thing guys. Stan said they could have shot him and they didn’t.”

“They?” Beth asked.

“There was a report of gunfire in building near where Stan and his partner were, and they walked in on something they shouldn’t have. His partner got shot and Stan didn’t. Stan said to his superior that it all happened so quickly that it was luck or that his partner shielded him, but what Stan told me was slightly different. He said there were three guys there, in this building and one of them shouted at the others to hold fire. He asked Stan if he was married. And Stan said yes. He then asked Stan what his wife’s name was and he said Ruby. And then, then Stan said the man put his gun down and got his boys to put their guns down. He told Stan he was getting a pass this time and this time only. For the sake of his wife.”

“What the fuck?” Annie blanched.

Ruby continued. “I asked for a description and it wasn't who you're thinking, but it must have been some of his boys.”

“Shut the front door.” Annie leant back in the couch.

Beth swallowed, secretly relieved that it hadn’t been Rio but also concerned about what this meant. “What did Stan make of it?”

“He doesn’t know what to make of it right now but we do. What do I tell him guys, what do I say. I’m scared that I’m being too shady.”

Beth took a breath in and spoke, measuredly. “You’re not being shady, you’re an afraid and concerned wife. Your husband nearly got shot. His partner did get shot. And the only reason your husband didn’t was because gangbanger had a sudden shred of consciousness in him. He spared Stan because he was married. I think that’s what happened and the situation is so big and scary, of course you're going to be jumpy and so is Stan. I would say that’s pretty natural. But you’re both okay and you're going to be okay.”

Ruby sobbed down the phone line. “This is so messed up, I mean, the only reason he wasn’t shot is because of me and what we’ve done. What if Stan gets caught up in another situation like that again?”

“You can't think along those lines now Ruby, you’ve just got to get Stan home and look after him tonight. Tomorrow morning I’ll bring Sara and Harry back to you, and you can spend the day together, as a family. Everything is going to be okay Ruby. You’re going to make it okay.”

Annie and Beth looked at each other and listened as Ruby took an audible inhale down the phone. “Okay, you’re right. I will make it okay. And this was just an incredible stroke of misfortune and luck.”

“Exactly.” Beth said firmly.

Annie chimed in. “We love you Ruby.”

“Thank you girls. Okay, I better get back to him. And Beth, don’t bring the kids back too early.”

Ruby hung up and Annie and Beth just looked at each other for a while.

Annie then reached for the bourbon bottle on the table in-front of them, pouring each of them a generous measure before turning back to Beth. “Fuck.” 

Beth looked heavenward. “I don’t even know what to say.”

Annie took a sip of her bourbon. “I do. Our life of crime has now actually saved Stan’s life. This is serious weird shit that we’re involved in.”

Beth said nothing but reached for her glass on the table. Life was certainly getting a little more complicated.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What does Agent Turner want with Beth? Another chapter will arrive soon!


	10. Queens and Kings - Part Ten

“Do you mind if I put the dishes in the dishwasher as we talk?” Beth asked as she moved to the dishwasher. The breakfast dishes did need to be put away and also, it meant that she was doing something normal, which might distract her from the fact the FBI was back in her kitchen.

“Go ahead, I appreciate the time that you’re giving me.” Agent Turner sat at the breakfast bar, the coffee that Beth had just given him on the counter before him and the cookie she had passed over in his hand. He took a bite of the cookie and munched contentedly before speaking again.

“I have to say, that’s the best I’ve eaten in a long time. Are they home baked?”

“Thank you and yes.” Beth spoke into the dishwasher.

“So, Mrs Boland, how are things?”

Beth straightened up to look at the Agent. “Things are fine, why do you ask?”

“I wanted to check in with you.” 

“About what?” Beth grabbed the three bowls in front of her and stacked them in the dishwasher, telling herself to not play too dumb or to antagonise him too much.

“About your boyfriend.”

Beth straightened up and looked Agent Turner in the eye, cooly and honestly. “I don’t have a boyfriend.”

“Boyfriend, person you’re dating, person you’re sleeping, whatever the label, I want to talk to you about the gangbanger I saw you with two weeks ago.”

Beth shut the dishwasher door and leant on the island, putting her hands in front of her. “Okay, what do you want to ask.”

“I actually have so many questions, about that. I mean I get it, you’ve just split up with your husband, you’ve now got a job, you’re trying to re-establish who you are and that’s hard. But at what point did you go from screwing a gangbanger as a one-night-stand revenge on your husband, to going out on dinner dates with him?”

Beth took a deep breath in and did her best to look slightly doubtful. “He said he’s not in a gang.”

“Really, so you think that an FBI agent would lie to you?”

“Funny, Agent Turner, you see I didn’t think my husband would ever lie to me, but he did. And can you truthfully say you’ve only ever been 100% honest to everyone you’ve spoken to?”

“He’s a gangbanger Mrs Boland.”

Beth swallowed and looked down for a moment before she looked back up at him. “When I told you that he rescued me from the flat tyre situation at the side of the road, I didn’t tell you that I was crying so much I was a little hysterical. There had been so much going on and the tyre was the straw that broke the camels back. When he stopped the car I was relieved for help, but seeing who it was? Well, let’s just say I wasn’t polite to him when he approached me. I truly wasn’t and he behaved with such kindness, giving me a pack of tissues, taking the jack off me when I screamed at him that I could do it. Sitting with me for 20 minutes after he’d changed the tyre whilst I pulled myself together.” 

Beth shrugged, then reached to where she had left her own coffee mug and took a sip before continuing. “He wiped up my face with a tissue and told me to follow him to a diner, where he bought me a tea and piece of pie and we talked for an hour about anything other than what I was going through. He made me laugh. And then I had to go to get the kids, but you know, in the short time that we met again, he reminded me of who I am.” 

Beth swallowed before whispering. “No one else has done that for a long while.”

Agent Turner looked over Beth thoughtfully and took a sip of his coffee. He didn’t speak right away, choosing what to ask next carefully.

“So you trust him?”

Beth didn’t answer, but she nodded.

“Does he trust you?”

She shrugged. “I think so. But who can say?”

“I know you’ve met him a few times Mrs Boland, so you must have an inkling of if he trusts you or not.”

Beth closed her eyes momentarily before opening them and looking at the Agent. “I don’t know him well enough yet and I don’t know if I ever will, but I guess he trusts me. I mean, he still wanted to see me after the car thing where I must have seemed crazy.”

“What do you talk about?”

Beth shrugged. “Things.”

“What kind of things?”

“What’s going on in the world, what books we’ve read, silly anecdotes, sometimes history. He knows a lot.”

Agent Turner frowned. “As fascinating as his general knowledge may be, I want to know if you talk about work? His work?”

“No.” Beth’s posture remained open. Her shoulders relaxed. Her eye contact fixed.

She didn’t allow herself to think anything other than ‘No’.

“Never?”

“In the car I said I saw him on TV and he told me all about racial profiling.”

Agent Turner frowned. “It wasn’t racial profiling when it came to him. He really is a gangbanger.”

Beth looked thoughtful for a moment. “Has he ever been charged or committed of gangbanging?” Inside her head she was laughing at how docile and like a fish out of water she sounded.

Agent Turner made a slight movement. “You can’t get charged for being in a gang, you get charged for the crimes the gang commits.”

Beth didn’t react at all. So the FBI couldn’t get Rio. He had managed to not get convicted with anything.

“Okay, well, just so you know, we don’t talk about his work or mine, at all. So I don’t know how I can help you.”

“Do you think you could ask him some questions.”

Beth looked at Agent Turner questioningly. “Why?”

“Because, I think he trusts you. And after the way you defended him two weeks ago, I don’t think he wouldn’t suspect you of being a mole for the FBI.”

Beth swallowed then and looked at him wide eyed, her shocked reaction genuine. “Are you kidding me?”

“I’m an FBI Agent, I don’t kid around.”

“And I’m a suburban housewife with four kids who’s just spent a minimal amount of time with someone of the opposite sex and now the FBI want me spy on him? What? I mean, I’m an open book, I can’t hide things. He’ll see through me straight away. And we don’t talk about work!”

“Well, maybe start.”

“No, it would be weird and it would make this thing...” Beth stumbled on her words and then just spat them out. “It would make our hooking up more personal than it currently is.”

“Well, make it more personal. Mrs Boland, we need someone in our corner.”

Beth’s hands were genuinely shaking so she put her coffee mug down and shook her head at the Agent. “Listen, you've got it all wrong, he’s just a businessman who dresses like a hipster-hoodlum. Yes, he’s tattooed and has a tattoo store so he’s a cliche. But he’s actually very gentle, there’s no way he’s in a gang.”

“Mrs Boland, I know you don’t want to believe it, but I’m telling you the truth, and I need for you to help me.”

Beth looked down at the counter and took a breath in before looking back up at him. “Is this an official request or an unofficial request?”

“Unofficial for now but I can make it official. You’re going through a divorce, right?”

Beth swallowed waiting to hear what he said next.

“I’m not sure the courts would look favourably on you if they found out your new boyfriend was a member of a large inner city gang. I think your ex-husband would get preferable treatment if that came out.”

Beth starred at him coolly. “Then I will end things with him here and now.”

“Doesn’t matter, I can still tell the court. I saw you with him, you told me you’d gone on a date with him. And months ago, you told me, an FBI Agent that you had an affair with him.”

Beth said nothing to that. She couldn’t deny it.

“I don’t want you to end things with him, I want you to be smart. He trusts you, and why wouldn’t he? You’re so removed from his world and lifestyle. So, if you could ask him some questions and then we can meet up and see how we go from there.”

Beth swallowed, she actually felt sick, but she knew he had trapped her. She had to go along with this. “What kind of questions?”

 

\----------

 

Dean had collected the kids from school and taken them to dinner that night so when Beth finished at the Dr’s she went home and feeling restless, she cleaned all the surfaces she could and did all the laundry she could find, and tidied all the kids rooms. But she couldn’t get over the fact that Agent Turner had just asked, or rather, told her to spy on Rio.

And now Beth felt like she was being watched. She didn’t feel like she could call Annie as she had already made her come over the night before to help out and Ruby had her hands full already. The person she really need to speak to was Rio. She had called him when she left the Dr’s, but he hadn’t answered. She sent him a message instead and left it at that. He would respond when he was free.

So she was a bit surprised when she stood up after putting bowls away under the kitchen island to find Rio standing on the other side, having somehow silently entered the house.

“How did you get in?”

“Your front door’s open. You should keep it locked.”

“Oh, yes, but Dean will be back with the kids in about 20 minutes.”

“Yeh, I can’t stay either. I have somewhere to be. So what business couldn't wait till tomorrow?” He looked a little weary and he rubbed his forehead.

“Agent Turner dropped by this morning as he wants me to spy on you.”

Rio looked at Beth but his expression remained neutral. 

“Rio, this is a problem!”

“Not really, the feds are always gonna be sniffin’ around.”

“But I’m working for you and sleeping with you, so this is a problem.”

Rio looked at Beth questioningly before speaking again. “What does he want?”

“He wants me to ask you questions about your business. I said we don’t talk business, that we just 'hit it', but he said I had to start asking.”

Rio smirked at Beth saying hit it, but then he shrugged. “So, ask.”

“What? No!”

“I’ll tell you some things that’ll be misleading.”

“Rio, you can’t. He’s threatening to tell the divorce court that I’m having an affair with you, so that I lose my kids to Dean. I can’t lose my kids.”

Rio’s eyes flashed momentarily. “That ain’t gonna happen, he’s playing you. I’m a tax paying businessman, remember? There ain’t no convictions against me. You gotta think more clearly. If your kids get taken off you because you been with me, then car-man ain’t gonna get them either.”

Beth took a breath in, she hadn’t thought about that, she had just panicked. Rio had told her a few times before that she needed to be cooler, to think more clearly. “True, but if I blatantly lie to them...”

Rio interrupted her. “They won’t know you lied. You asked a question an’ I answered it. It’ll be me that lied, not you. Anyways, you're always so convincing sweetheart, no ones gonna suspect you.”

Beth forced a smile, he was right of course. 

Rio took a few steps around the island to get closer to her, sensing her stress, so he spoke a little more gently. “Look, its good that you reacted this way, it makes it more believable.”

“There’s something else though, something that happened yesterday.”

“Yeh.” Rio sighed. “I heard about that. Ruby’s husband is one lucky man.”

Beth looked at Rio. “What was going on?”

“Nothing you need to worry about.”

“Your boys shot a cop.”

“Yeh.” Rio rubbed his forehead again. “But things aren’t always what they seem. Ruby’s husband, he needs to avoid that area for a while, there's heat with a different crew an’ crossfire happens.”

Beth swallowed as she looked at Rio. “You don’t have to go there do you? I mean, you’re not involved in street level things?”

“It’s nothing for you to worry about. That’s a different side of the business, one that you never need be involved in.”

Beth looked deeply into Rio’s eyes. There was still so much in his life that she didn’t really know about. “Rio, if you need to talk, you can tell me things, I won’t judge. If you haven’t figured it out already, I am here for you.”

He smiled at her then and the tension left his face. “There’s no one else quite like you, is there?” 

She stepped closer to him and they kissed but as their lips touched, the front door opened and the sound of Beth’s kids chatter invaded the house. Rio stepped back quickly. 

“Later, okay?” He smiled at her again and quickly exited through the kitchen side door, so that the kids and Dean wouldn’t see him. 

Beth bit her lip. Not only did she now have to feed stories to the FBI as an informant, she knew the stories she would feed them were lies and she also knew that Rio’s boys were involved in some bad business on the wrong side of town. Which meant she was now worried about Rio’s safety. She swallowed and put on a smile, heading into the hallway to greet her brood.

 

\--------

 

“Rio, are you okay?”

It was still early on Sunday morning when Beth had snuck to the bathroom. She thought Rio was asleep but when she came back into his bedroom, he was checking his phone, with a distracted look on his face. She had taken off him and demanded attention instead, and he had been only too happy to give it to her, undivided, for the best part of an hour.

“Yeh.” He said, and stroked her hair, but she knew he wasn’t okay, and he wasn’t fully present again. She could tell his mind had already moved back to what had been on his phone, whilst their bodies were still slick with each others love sweat and their limbs were intertwined. 

She had arrived early Saturday evening, armed with a decent bottle of red wine and homemade cookies as dessert, as Rio said he was going to cook for her. Cooking helped him wind down. He hadn’t seen her since Thursday evening in the kitchen, so their greeting kiss lingered as their bodies pressed against each, Beth’s 'most magnificent' breasts, as Rio had labelled them, always slightly skewing their alignment. With what seemed like little effort, he had lifted her off her feet and carried her the short distance to his couch. He made light work of getting rid of both their jeans and briefs and then with no foreplay, he fucked her, filing her so totally with his cock as he kissed her deeply and urgently. 

She had moaned into his mouth, and clawed his t-shirt off him though she was still in her shirt, and Rio had lifted one of her legs to help hit her sweet spot. It hadn’t taken her long to climax, the man turned her on so much it was unreal. While she was still coming to from her orgasm, he’d changed their position and Beth had gasped but rode his lap, her back against his chest as he held tightly onto her hips which he kept lifting up and slamming down on his cock until he came, crying out her name. 

They had sat there for a minute, panting, before Rio had looked at Beth in that way he did, shaking his head at her as he lifted her off his cock and out from her reverse cowgirl position. She was flushed and glowing and breathing heavily, her shirt wrinkled and half undone.

“Sweetheart.” He shook his head at her, enamoured, full of orgasm bliss and wonder. Beth couldn’t help but giggle as that was the first thing he had said to her since she stepped into his house. 

After a few more minutes of staring at each other, he had made them stand to go into his kitchen. He had cooked marinated pork tenderloin with a rainbow salad, steamed fragrant mixed rice and an avocado salsa. It was one of the most deceptively simple and totally delicious meals Beth had eaten in a long, long time, and she ate it with relish whilst sat in her wrinkled shirt and panties on Rio’s couch, sipping the wine she bought him. She had tried to put her pants back on but Rio had told her not to, besides, he was only sat in his jeans, naked from the waist up, so they evened each other out.

Rio had ended up putting on some music and had tried to teach her a dance from lessons he had been sent to as a boy, but that led to much laughing and more kissing. The kissing led to the bedroom and less clothing and more dancing horizontal style on the bed.

Beth had genuinely never been more sexually satisfied in her life. It wasn’t an insult to Dean at all, it was just Dean and her had stopped working at some point. And Rio just got her body. Or maybe it was because he was observant without making a point of it, watching her reactions, learning what turned her on and then he worked with it, expanded on it. But Rio wasn’t alone, Beth had paid just as much attention to Rio’s reactions. Together, they were a force to be reckoned with in both the bedroom and business.

Beth looked at Rio, her body cooling from their morning love and she spoke softly. “You can talk to me you know.”

“Sex an’ sleep is all that should happen in bed sweetheart, an’ I stick to the rules.”

“I know, but something’s up.”

“Yeh.” Rio looked at Beth and focussed on her again, stroking her face. “I know you said, an’ I know I can, but there’s nothing that I want to share with you just yet. It’s better this way.”

Beth swallowed. “But are things okay?”

“They are for now.”

Beth put her hands on his chest. “Would you tell me if they weren’t?” 

“I’d tell you if things were bad, okay?”

“Okay.” Beth tried to smile but it didn’t quite work.

Rio took a deep breath in before speaking again. “You’re on a different side of the business, you only need to worry about what you an’ your PTA ladies are doing, so don’t concern yourself with anything else. I handle my side of things, remember? An’ no more business talk in bed. Stop breaking all the rules, bad girl.” He kissed her then and pulled her close, gently stroking her back with one hand and massaging her scalp with his other to relax and reassure her, but also as it soothed him. 

Beth lay still on Rio, her arms wrapped around his body as he dozed off, her head resting on his chest, listening to his slowing heart beat, but she didn’t feel reassured. She knew something was going on, something he wasn’t telling her about. But he’d always been honest to her, he hadn’t ever lied to her, so she had to trust that whatever he was keeping from her didn't matter. 

So why where her instincts telling her that it did?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Things are getting a little bit more complicated... they'll be more to follow next week, thanks so much for reading this guys! <3


	11. Queens and Kings -  Part Eleven

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A catch up chapter - this story is nearing it's end... thanks for taking the time to read it guys!

Life had settled into a new normal for Beth for three months. She and Dean had nearly finalised their divorce and had mostly managed to be civil about things. Dean had the kids two nights a week and had moved into an apartment that Beth had helped him find. They were all getting used to their new routine. 

Beth’s new normal work routine was hectic, with keeping track of the legitimate and fake cash for the secret shopper empire and then laundering the real money through the Drs surgery and the beauty salons as well as passing a chunk to Rio, so he could put it through Boland’s motors and a few other outlets that she was kept in the cold about. 

The beauty salon deal had also worked out well. Nancy’s accountant had made a sizeable error with her accounts just as a new accountant happened to approach her. The new accountant worked for a few other local businesses, like Boland Motors, and so had offered their services to Nancy at a very reasonable rate. 

Annie had been unhappy with it, but then Annie had also been stuck in her own personal hell. She had cooled things off with Greg soon after her confession to Beth and Ruby. Beth had pointed out to her that if Greg was willing to cheat on Nancy, who was undergoing IVF with him, then what would keep him loyal to Annie? They’d already divorced and hurt each other badly.

But Annie backing off had had the opposite effect on Greg than she had expected. He had left Nancy, who had in turn starting calling Annie, trying to work out what to do. And Annie, feeling immense guilt, listened to Nancy whilst trying to resist the pull of Greg, who moved into a much smaller and less ostentatious house next to Beth’s neighbourhood. A neighbourhood Annie preferred. 

But at girls night that week they forgot everything that was going on in their lives and watched the usual with wine and snacks. Only when the night was nearly over, did Ruby talk about some of the new issues at Stan’s work. Apparently an old school mob and the newer cartel where having a few territory rumbles in Detroit, and some folks were being caught in the crossfire. There wasn’t a great deal of news coverage on it as none of the people hit were so called ‘good’ people, but things were hairy out there in the gang world. 

Beth now understood that this was what was causing Rio’s stress. 

She tidied up after the girls left and had crawled into bed, exhausted, but she woke to the sound of the shower running and rubbed her eyes, looking to the other bedside table in the dark. She spotted the sheen of Rio’s phone and the glint of his golden gun. She frowned, still not comfortable with the gun, but she knew he kept it close to him at all times. She sat up and turned her bedside lamp on.

She had given Rio a key to French doors in her bedroom, so he could get see her discreetly but usually he would message or call before he came around. Occasionally in the morning she had woken up to him lying next to her and when he opened his eyes, he would smile his lazy smile at her. And so she knew he just wanted to be close to her. It made her feel powerful. It made her feel wanted and although she would never say it, it made her feel loved. He wanted to be close to her. 

The shower turned off and a few minutes later, Rio quietly walked to the bedroom naked, having left the towel on the rack.

“Hey.” She whispered. It was nearly three in the morning.

“Hey.” He was surprised that she had woken up.

Rio’s skin looked a little raw, freshly scrubbed, and she smiled then, knowing he liked to try out all her beauty products, but her smile slipped as he seemed paler than usual, and he looked tired, not just physically, the tiredness seemed to radiate from him. 

She instantly pulled the bed covers back and he crawled into bed beside her. She leant across him to turn the lamp out, and then moved back a little, giving him room to get comfortable, but he turned on his side so Beth spooned him from behind, and wrapped an arm around his body. 

Despite the hot shower, he was cold to touch. He pulled her as close as possible to him, putting his hand over hers and holding them both over his heart which was beating fast. He needed her touch tonight. He needed her close. He wouldn’t say or explain why. He had a thing about not explaining much to her about what he had to do. Perhaps to test her. But this wasn’t a test. He wasn’t happy. He'd had to do something he wasn't happy about. Something that would have consequences. But as a boss, he'd had to do it.

Beth didn’t ask him what was wrong, she felt how exhausted he was. He had always been as economical as possible when speaking, but this silence was something else, it was heavy. She remained awake, holding him tight, her face pressed on his shoulder as he fell asleep, his breathing falling into a regular pattern, his body warmed by hers.

She felt the daylight come, saw as the room brightened slowly and he slightly shifted in sleep, his eyes opening before seven, when he would usually leave hers. She kissed his forehead as he turned over to face her. His eyes were clouded, his facial expression unreadable.

“Stay here, stay in bed. I’m gonna get the kids ready and take them to school, they won’t come in here. I’ll be back after nine and we can have breakfast together. Just get some more sleep now, okay?”

He closed his eyes briefly. She understood. He didn’t need to say it. She understood. He opened his eyes and nodded at her, relieved.

She kissed his lips gently, letting her right hand cup his left cheek and smooth his eyebrow and then she got up, heading into the bathroom for a quick shower. After turning the shower on, letting the room steam a little, she walked to where his clothes were. They were lying on her clothes basket, hoodie, shirt, t-shirt, jeans, boxers and socks. She picked the hoodie up and smelt it, but she already knew the aroma. It wasn’t of him, oh he had told her months ago that he didn’t wear aftershave, so his smell, his freaking gorgeous manly smell that made her knees buckle, that was entirely his own. The smell on his hoodie was of smoke. And a little bit of gasoline. 

She bit her lip then, what the fuck had happened? 

She was so used to being with the private Rio with smiles and sass, and the kisses and constant teasing of her, the white collar crime boss Rio who guided and encouraged her, who let her prove herself to him, or the Friday or Saturday night Rio when they stayed at his and shut the world out thinking only of each other, or the Rio who snuck in and out of hers, the constant electric charge between them, that she sometimes forgot his other side, the deadly nature of his business side. The side that ‘handled’ things. 

She knew then that she would wash his clothes for him whilst he slept, she would clean them to get rid of whatever had happened last night. 

Rio was still asleep when she came home after dropping the kids off and he was still asleep at 10am, so she called in sick at the Dr’s and started making cookies for the kids when he appeared in the kitchen, wrapped in her robe, walking barefoot towards her. 

“What’cha making?” He stood behind her, slipping his arms around her as she stirred the cookie dough. 

“Cookies. The robe suits you.”

“My clothes were stolen.”

“They’re just in the drier, all clean and fresh.”

He kissed her neck as a thank you, sending shivers up and down her spine.

“Do you want some breakfast? Eggs florentine? There’s coffee in the pot.”

Rio turned her around then and kissed her deeply, pulling her tightly against him, before pulling back to speak, looking at her suggestively. The rest had done him a world of good. “Depends, how much time do you have before work?”

“I called in sick.”

“Oh, you did, did you?”

Beth gave Rio one of her winning smiles. “The boss from Corporate seemed like he needed my help today.”

Rio narrowed his eyes at her. “What made you think that?”

“Oh, he asked. He’s so very expressive, and tells me everything.”

“Everything you need to know.”

“Exactly. So here I am. With the whole morning and afternoon free. So I guess, if he doesn’t need me, I’ll finish these cookies and head into the surgery.”

Rio smirked then, pulled her close and kissed her slowly and deeply as he slid his arms around her back, unzipping her dress. They spent the day lazily, making love over and over again, with Beth feeding Rio snacks in-between their orgasms. When it came to time to pick the kids up from school, Beth asked if Rio would like to stay for dinner, and he nodded. 

They had talked about him officially meeting the children as Mommy’s man, but he said could just be Mommy’s friend for a while. Beth had agreed, as she had no idea how to go about this. And how would she even begin to tell Dean about it? For now, her and Rio would just be friends, and the kids had already met him briefly but tonight was going to be a new event for them, another new normal.

When Beth came back from the school pick-up, with all her kids in-tow, Rio had baked the cookies and set them out neatly on a plate. He offered to help Kenny with homework, entertained Danny and Jane with his super fast chef-style vegetable chopping and gave Emma a piggy back to bed. The kids adored him. And they thought he was cool.

He drew a bath for Beth, which they shared in candlelight, sipping bourbon and stroking each others skin, and then in bed, despite all her orgasms earlier, Rio gave Beth one of the longest and most electrifying orgasms she had ever had. She was unable to move, unable to help him come, unable to do much but lie, prostrate, her body felt like a cloud and she could only stare at him in wonder, so he had starred into her eyes, pounding into her until he came and he then chuckled, telling her it was rare to see her so helpless and lost for words.

She managed to find the strength to hit him over the head with a pillow which only made him laugh more but he pulled her close, stroking her blissed out body until they both fell into a contented sleep. He gently kissed her awake the next morning, his hands smoothing their way down her body and he left her feeling warm and loved, as he exited her bedroom by the patio doors before the kids had even woken up. 

Beth lay in their love warm bed smiling to herself, waiting for her alarm to go off, feeling achy from so much sex but so fulfilled and so alive. 

She was running a business of secret shoppers, she was the mastermind behind a money laundering empire, she had legitimate cash in the bank and non-legitimate cash stored in a hideaway place in her laundry room. Her kids were happy and healthy and her sister and best friend were financially and emotionally better than they had been in a long time. And the person who had helped make all this happen, the person she adored and who drove her crazy, her lover, her equal, the King to her Queen, was Rio. He, she realised, was the one who truly made her come to life.


	12. Queens and Kings - Part Twelve

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ouuuuufffff... a slight cliffhanger... will write the next one as soon as I can! x

She was fast asleep, so deep that there were no dreams, just wonderfully heavy restorative rest. But something was pulling her out of it, someone.

“Elizabeth.”

That voice, the low purr, the warm tone, the effect it had on her. She stirred. Seeking him in her slumber.

“Elizabeth.”

She opened her eyes slightly, the room was dark so it was still the night, or very, very early morning. She sensed his presence and she turned her head to where she knew he would be. She couldn't help but smile, she hadn’t fallen asleep next to him, but waking up next to him always brought joy. His presence made her heart expand.

But he remained a shadowy figure, he wasn’t lying in bed beside her, he was crouched next to the bedside, waiting for her to come to. She registered that this was not his normal routine.

“Rio?”

He moved closer then, leaning over her, putting a hand on her face so gently, stroking her cheekbone.

“What time is it?” Her voice was full of sleep.

He didn’t respond, his hand just traced her face. She felt it through his fingertips, a not ‘right’ feeling was radiating from him. His smell filled her nostrils, but there was something else mixed in with it too. Her heart began to crack. 

He turned her bedside lamp on with his free hand and he moved his face back to look at her, blinking as his eyes adjusted to the light. He was so incredibly handsome. So perfect. 

But his posture was slightly different, his shoulders seemed to be weighed down, and though his eyes were locked on hers, there was something different in them, something that she hadn’t seen before. She swallowed and waited for him to tell her what she didn’t want to hear.

“There’s a key on your bedside table. Hide it away, don’t carry it around. It’s for a lock up. I wrote the address down on the inside of the cover sleeve of the book I bought you about the original Queen Elizabeth.”

Beth didn't take her eyes off him. She had laughed when he bought her that book two months ago. She thought he was teasing her. Trying to teach her about real Queens. Trying to teach her about how a woman ruled in a man’s world and maintained her power despite everything. But it struck her now, two months after she had read it, that Queen Elizabeth the first had ruled alone. 

“Don’t go to the lock up for the next few weeks, wait till things have settled. You’ll know what to do. It’ll keep you busy for a while an’ then you’re on your own. You’re all free. Just be sensible, keep things low. Tail off with the beauty bitches now, get the Dr to retire when the last is done, wind that business up, an’ before then, work on building your new business, focus on getting in new legitimate clients. But in six months, do me a favour, yeh? Take 200 G’s across the border to Mr Lars. Leave it at the craft store with Mike, only Mike. Tell Mike thanks from me. Say my name to him. Did you get all that?”

Beth swallowed. “I...”

Rio interrupted her. “I need you to say it.”

“Yes.” 

Beth moved closer to him, trying to sit up but he wouldn’t let her, his hand on her face still and his arm leaning across her chest, so strong, holding her down, so she reached for his face, feeling it, her mouth ajar.

“Keep a low profile, cover your tracks an’ become 100% legit. You can do it. I know it, as you’re a Queen, you were always a Queen to my lesser King.” His eyes swooped over her face, her neck. His own face, usually a mask, was full of pained emotion, his brow furrowing, his lower lip jutting out. 

He leant forward and kissed her. Their mouths opened, their tongues slid against one another, dancing deeply, feeling and probing, and saying what he wasn’t saying. Beth couldn’t help but sigh and they pulled closer together. 

When they kissed like this, it made her forget everything, but this wasn't a forgetting kiss, a kiss which would lead to their bodies sliding against one another for mind-blowing pleasure, this was an imprinting kiss, this was a kiss for them to keep forever more. Rio pulled away, breathing heavily, and he licked his bottom lip, not able to look her in the eye as he stood.

“Rio?” She sat up, her voice full of emotion and doubt. 

“Don’t, I have to go, there’s no time. Don’t forget Mr Lars.” And then he moved so suddenly, that he was by the patio door, his hand on the handle.

“Wait!” She cried out.

He turned to her then and his voice broke as he spoke. “Don’t make this harder for me.”

“What happened?”

“Take care of you an’ your kids.”

“Rio!”

“Elizabeth. Please.”

She made a sobbing noise. She couldn’t help it. She pulled her duvet off her body, moving her legs to the edge of the bed, she tried to stand but he looked at her and shook his head. His eyes, dark orbs shining brightly, said everything. She stayed put.

She wanted to tell him she loved him. That she didn’t care what had happened. She didn’t care what would happen. That she would be there for him, she was here for him no matter what. She was his. That he was right; she was his Queen, just as he was her King. He was not lesser to her nor she to him, they were equals. They were equals. He knew that. And that she loved him. 

She loved him. 

Oh God, she really loved him.

He nodded. He knew it all. And she saw a tear run down his face. And then he was gone. 

She sobbed for a moment but then got up, ran to the door, held the handle, touching what he just had touched, yanking it, opening the door and stepping out but it was pitch black outside and he was no where to be seen. He had blended into the night and was gone. 

“Rio?”

Her voice cracked, it wasn’t loud but if he was in the garden, he would have heard it. It would have made him turn. He would have come back. He would have come back.

She stood, barefoot in her pyjamas by the door, silent tears streaming down her face, barely breathing, staring into the darkness until Buddy appeared at feet, nudging her, knowing that something wasn’t right. She stayed, she waited, but Rio didn’t come back. And so Beth stepped inside, her heart was in pieces and she closed the door, locking it from the inside with the key he had left in there. 

He had given her back his key.

She found herself in her kitchen, sat at the breakfast bar, staring at the lock up key on the island in-front of her, with Buddy by her feet. When the sun came up she sent a message to Annie. She made breakfast for her children on autopilot, sent them off with the carpool to school before she went back into her kitchen and sat down for what could have been minutes or hours until Annie was there and she was in her arms.

“He’s gone.” Was all Beth could say.

Annie took Beth’s phone from her, trying Rio’s number to no avail. She tried to call Rio from her own phone but it still didn't work. The number had been disconnected.

At a loss, Annie then called Ruby who detoured from heading to their secret shopper office and came straight over. She had a bourbon bottle under her arm, a bottle of the good stuff, and she poured them each a glass, just as Annie poured them each a coffee from the pot she had just brewed and they all sat around the kitchen island, looking at the key Rio had left Beth. 

“I’ll speak to Stan later, ask him about his day, maybe he’ll tell me if something big has happened.”

Beth nodded, still in her pyjamas, still in shock, but the coffee and bourbon were helping.

“Are you sure he was leaving, I mean, damn girl, we know that mans got it bad for you.Though we’re still on the hook.” Ruby grimaced, she was always slightly pissed at Rio. 

He had her drive over the border with copious amounts of fake cash three times in the last six months in her Detroit policeman husbands car. As the car was registered to Stan it was a good cover he had said. But each run had made Ruby feel sick. 

She had dragged Annie with her all three times and they bought shit they didn’t need to make it seem like a girls day out. Beth had been banned from the trips as Rio made it clear she was implicated enough with the Dr’s surgery. He couldn’t risk loosing all his suburban bitches on a border run.

Both Annie and Ruby had also originally hoped that Rio’s change in relationship status with Beth would mean that they would all be set free to just run their legitimate business and the side-job of quietly cleaning 150 to 200 G’s every week for Rio but no. That was not enough for him. Rio had made Beth work the Dr’s surgery and mastermind the beauty parlours, just as he made Ruby and Annie do some of his money runs. 

In Ruby’s mind, as much as she loved the legitimate side of the business, as much as she had flourished being her own boss with the girls and not having to do shifts at a crumby drive thru or diner, as much as Stan now trusted her again (oh, she covered her tracks so much better, she had learnt a little from Beth, that if you believed the lies you told, then there was an element of truth to them, so therefore, she wasn’t being truly dishonest to Stan), and she was living a better life that gang friend had unwittingly provided for them: she was way over this life of crime. 

And she was actually well and truly over doing what Rio commanded. He was and always had been the serious criminal. He was not a good man. Why were they still under his thumb? Okay she knew why, they had shopped him, but hadn’t Beth’s business ideas actually made him richer and safer than he had ever been before? Made things easier for him?

And also, despite Rio and Beth’s discretion, she knew the man had been fucking Beth absolutely senseless over the past few months. Beth constantly had that super satisfied glow that was hard to achieve with just make-up, was prone to random giggling and had, to be honest, become a lot less uptight. Beth would only admit to the amount of action she was getting when pushed after three glasses of wine, so surely, after all Rio’s ‘private’ interactions with Beth, and all the ‘joy’ he was receiving, Rio would cut them some slack? 

No, oh no, he hadn’t. Sure, he could have been worse to them, they had messed his business up and gotten him arrested but they were still alive. So maybe he had been more lenient to them because of his attachment to Beth. 

Ruby stole a glance at Beth and saw a woman who looked like she had been pushed off a ledge into some abyss. 

Ruby swallowed hard. Beth had truly blossomed in so many ways since Rio had become part of her day-to-day life. Her business mind was sharp, her tolerance for any of the secret shoppers messing up was forgiving for the first stroke and then they were out. She used her superpower of lying to maximum effect when needed which had come in handy. Yet she was still the same Mom to her kids, only she didn’t panic when certain things were no longer perfect. She had become far less rigid. 

But what now?

Ruby had kind of been waiting for something to happen, for something to change this weird duplicitous life of theirs, and she now had it. The thing, an unknown thing had happened, and suddenly they had no crime boss. Rio was gone. And they were, to all intents and purposes, free. Depending on what was in the lock up.

“What if the lock up is actually a set up?” Annie blurted out.

Beth shook her head. “No, it’s not.”  
“Beth, I know he’s been into you but he’s never let us off. I got the feeling that he never would.”

“It’s money Annie. I know it.”

Ruby nodded. “It sounds like money to me. And it sounds like this is ours now too. Ours to clean. Ours to keep.”

“Okay, well, maybe, maybe tomorrow I’ll go to the diner that Bullet takes his Mom to and I’ll, I’ll fish for information.”

“Whaaat?” Ruby turned to Annie and looked at her incredulously.

“Don’t look at me like that, I was in there one day and he came in with this sweet older lady. We spoke, she doesn’t have many friends and I’ve introduced her to Miriam. And yes I am still seeing Miriam, Boomer’s a jerk who got off with a light sentence but you can’t blame Miriam for him. And Bullet’s okay off-duty, you know? And his Mom now super likes me cos of Miriam.”

Ruby spat out her words. “He held a gun to your head! And Miriam is a racist.”

“Her views were questionable, she needed to open her mind a bit more and integrate, and she has. And I didn’t say I would ever sleep with Bullet, that would be stupid, I just said he was okay.”

Ruby’s eyes went wide at Annie and they both turned to Beth.

But the words had gone over Beth’s head, she just looked at Annie. “Please, do ask him. If either of you can find anything out...” Her voice trailed off and she picked the bourbon up to sip it.

Ruby and Annie just looked at each other: this was bad.


	13. Queens and Kings - Part Thirteen

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for reading this, I always write more than I think I will! Thank you too for all the comments <3 This version of the story is nearly done... more will be posted after the weekend... x

Ruby had managed to get Beth to talk about when she had last seen Rio and so Beth told them about Thursday morning, and that they planned on seeing each other on Saturday but Dean had been sick. Beth invited Rio to hers instead but Rio had said something had come up and could he see them on Monday night instead?

Beth didn’t tell Ruby and Annie that he’d also asked her to go away with him for his birthday. That he said he’d take her to somewhere sunny for a long weekend and they’d stay somewhere really private so clothing would be optional. Beth agreed straight away of course. She could handle spending a few days in the sun, with a sunhat and lots of sunscreen in minimal clothing drinking cocktails with him. But only him, she didn’t want to show her body to anyone else and she didn’t want to share his body with anyone else.

But now that was all a dream. Perhaps he only said it to make her not question him. 

Ruby had been uneasy after the mention of the bonfire smell and she grabbed her phone, typing something into an internet search engine before showing it to the girls. There had been a warehouse fire late Wednesday night and on Thursday morning they recovered the remains of at least five people. Annie’s eyes went wide and Beth drained her bourbon but shook her head.

“He wouldn't have done that.”

Annie swallowed. “Says the woman who laundered his smokey gasoline clothes.”

Beth reached for the bottle of bourbon. “He’s not capable of that.”

Ruby sighed. “Are you for real? Do you not remember how we met him? He would have killed us if you hadn’t gone on about how we were so normal. And what happened to Eddie, hey? Rio’s business is crime and girl,” Ruby tapped her phone screen. “This does not look good.”

Beth poured herself a generous measure of the bourbon and put the bottle down after seeing that Annie and Ruby had barely touched their glasses. She took a sip before speaking. “He’s not the person you think he is. He’s not capable of that.”

“Beth, we have to face the fact that we don’t know what he’s capable of. I mean, we don’t. He’s told us about handling things in the past and how exactly do you think he does that? Do you think that side of his business stopped?”

Beth looked at the drink in her hands but didn't answer Ruby. How could she? He had kept things from her, he made that clear, but this, killing five people and then coming into her bed? No. Beth knew something had happened, something bad, but how could he go from killing people to being so totally, utterly and deeply intimate? 

Beth didn't see how that was possible. But then Rio was gone and she didn’t see how that was possible either. She swallowed more of the bourbon. 

 

\---------

 

Beth didn’t know how she got through the week, but she did. She focussed on the tasks that lay ahead of her, the next few hours, one thing at a time, taking extra care with her kids and driving as she was afraid that at any moment she would slip into the void that consumed her at night and kept her awake. The ache she felt in her heart and her being.

The first two days she was still in shock, she could almost handle not hearing from him, not seeing him because it wasn’t real, because every new day was another day that he would call her or drop by. But by Wednesday, two days after he had woken her up to tell her he was leaving, she felt totally broken. The pain of his absence was too much. She managed to drive the kids to school and then she went home to bed. She called in sick at the Dr’s a day in advance, and managed to do the bare minimum of school runs and meals for the kids and homework checks until the weekend arrived and Dean took the kids for two nights. 

During the day she cried and attempted to eat ice-cream as her throat felt like it had closed, she couldn’t eat proper food and her appetite had basically disappeared. But she couldn’t even handle more than two spoons of ice cream. At night she drank a little, and tried to read or watch a movie but her attention span couldn't handle it. She ached for Rio and would look through her cell for the few pictures he allowed her to take and keep. 

He thought it was safer to not have too many photos of them together and so she had saved the photos in emails, so they weren’t accessible on her camera roll. But looking at pictures of him made her heart sore.

The ache for him that she felt wasn’t just a physical, though she already felt touch starved, her body was craving the feel of him inside her, longing for his touch and taste and smell. It was him she ached for, his presence. The looks they shared, the understanding between them; he could just catch her eye and she would know what he was thinking and vice-versa. 

How could two people, who seemed to be from such different worlds, just get each other?

Knowing that he was there, knowing she would see him, knowing that he had her back, it had made Beth feel strong. He had helped her become the person she was always meant to be. And just looking at him would make her heart and soul expand. She felt invincible with him. Together, they could do anything.They were a team. They were unstoppable. 

So what was she without him? 

 

\--------------

 

Annie had appeared at Beth’s on Sunday morning, unannounced, and had dragged her out of bed and forced her into the shower. She then did the totally un-Annie thing of cleaning. She started with stripping Beth’s bedsheets, putting new sheets on, and getting one of the 14 loads of washing that needed to be done, done. 

When Beth came out of the shower Annie made her sit down and eat yogurt mixed with tiny pieces of cut up apple and seeds and then they tidied the house together. And in the evening Annie heated soup Ruby had brought over and she stayed overnight, helping put the kids to bed and drive them to school. She knew Beth would need her, as on Monday it was a week since Rio had walked out of their lives.

After the school run, Annie drove her and Beth to Ruby’s. Ruby had news on the warehouse fire. The bodies in the warehouse had been identified, there were seven in total. Four guys belonged to an old school Detroit mob, one of whom was the leader, and one of whom was his right hand man. One body was a gang member who they all recognised as he had worked for Rio and two bodies were persons unknown. The police believed they were cartel members. All but one of the bodies had been shot, so the police presumed the fire had been to destroy evidence, and that all of the guys where already dead when the warehouse had been torched.

As the turf war had calmed, the police believed that this was all in-house and they weren’t looking for anyone else in the matter. Beth didn’t know if she was relieved or not. They weren’t looking for Rio, but if had nothing to do with this, then why had he disappeared?

Annie had already spoken to Bullet who informed her that all of Rio’s men had gone back to their ‘other’ jobs, the normal jobs Rio had provided for them and that Rio was ‘on a long vacation’. When Annie asked what that meant Bullet had shrugged and answered it wasn’t a permanent vacation, as if that would bring relief. It took Annie a few moments to register that he meant Rio wasn’t dead, but that he wasn’t coming back anytime soon.

Beth found herself driving to Rio’s after leaving the girls. She had driven past his place the week before and the gates around his house had been shut, but today they were open. Without thinking, Beth pulled into the drive and walked up to the front door, her heart in throat, using the brass knocker, hoping beyond all hope that he would appear at the door.

But instead when the door creaked open, a small lady was there, in casual clothes and a feather duster in her hands. She looked at Beth and frowned but ushered her in, leading her into the kitchen. Beth looked around the house, nothing had changed inside, it had only been a week after all.

The woman motioned to Beth to sit at the kitchen island and she made them both a coffee. Neither of them had spoken, but the lady looked at Beth in sympathy.

“I’m Rosario, I know who you are. I’ve been his housekeeper for years, and I’ve been sweeping your hair off his floor for months now.”

“Oh,” Beth wasn’t sure what to say. “I’m Beth. Has he been back?”

Rosario shook her head. “I was asked by his sister to head over and clean, and I’ll back and do it again in a month. The first Monday every month, until further notice.”

What was left of Beth’s heart dropped to the floor. Rosario looked at Beth, understanding her pain. She noticed the habits of the peoples houses she cleaned and she knew the strawberry blonde haired lady meant something to Rio, as he usually never kept anything personal of the women who had been in his life.

But she had found Beth’s underwear in Rio’s beside table drawer, it wasn’t like him to do something like that, so this woman was different. That and the two photos that she had found a week later. There was a snapshot of them together, laughing, out somewhere, she had never seen Rio look so relaxed and happy. And there was also a close up of Beth in his bed, she wasn’t looking directly into the camera, she must have been looking at Rio, and she was doing it adoringly. Her hair was messy and her cheeks flushed, so it was clear what they had been up to, but it was a sweet rather than sordid photo. It looked like Beth had been unaware that he was taking it.

When Rosario had come to clean last week, the photos had gone as well as a few of Rio’s clothes. His sister had called her and explained that Rio had moved away. Rosario understood and she understood the pain radiating from the woman in front of her. Rosario thought for a moment and stood suddenly, disappearing for two minutes, and she came back into the kitchen with a sweater, which she handed to Beth.

“It still needs to be washed. I didn’t have time last week. He’s not here to miss it.”

Beth’s face quivered but she bit her tongue, sharply, to stop the tears and she pressed the sweater to her chest.

“Thank you.”

The housekeeper smiled at Beth. Beth then stood up and hugged Rosario, before leaving the house clutching Rio’s jumper tight to her as the tears streamed down her face. When she got in her car she put the fabric on her face and inhaled. It smelt of him. Oh, it smelt of him. She held the sweater close to her chest again for a few minutes, as if she were holding him and she looked at his house. But she knew it was useless. He was gone. She wiped the tears from her face and drove home, the sweater on her lap. 

She slept with the sweater under her pillow, until it no longer smelt of Rio. 

 

\-------

 

The next few months passed in a blur of busy days and long, slow lonely evenings for Beth. They had waited for three weeks before going to the lock up and discovering Rio had left them 1.5 million. They each counted it three times to be sure. After setting aside money for Mr Lars and the Dr and the accountant, and a reserve for any business matters they might need to attend to, they each came away with over 350 G’s. Not to mention a growing business as they branched out from secret shoppers to doing secret reviews of local and national business services. They were legitimately busy and money was steadily rolling in, more than enough to support them all.

Beth had met up with Agent Turner two weeks after Rio disappeared. She had, under Rio’s loose instruction, been feeding him information on Rio’s legitimate businesses and some local crooks that Rio knew of, but now she had to tell him that Rio had dumped her. 

She was so raw that she allowed herself to feel all her real feelings, unashamedly, and actually sobbed on the Agent. Having never seen her crack before, he had surprised her by being incredibly kind. He bought her a coffee and a cake, telling her she had lost too much weight and that a bright woman like her, who managed four kids, a dog, a large house, a part-time job and a start-up business really, really didn’t need a gangbanger or a cheating husband in her life. That she deserved better. 

That maybe she needed to give herself more time, a lot more time, so her judgement improved, and then maybe she should scope out some of the single Dad’s at soccer practise. Beth had laughed at that and swallowed down as much of the pie as she could. He had walked her to her car and shook her hand as a goodbye.

Within six months girls managed to clean all the money and wound up the Dr’s and cast Nancy’s business loose. On a Thursday, Beth found herself driving over the border, money concealed in three different places in her car. Seven months had passed since she had seen last seen Rio.

She was late taking the money to Mr Lars, she knew it, but she hadn’t wanted to do it earlier. To sever her connection to Rio totally. Because now she would have nothing left of him. But she had made a promise. Once behind the craft store she gathered they money from the three different places in the car and approached Mike. 

“Hi Mike, I have something for Mr Lars, from Rio. Rio in Detroit.”

She held the bags out to him and he took them, looking at her questioningly. “What did you just say?”

Beth’s stomach flipped, she’d been nervous about crossing the border as it was, and suddenly she wondered if Mike was not what she thought he was. What if he was with the police?

“Err, that this is from Rio for Mr Lars.”

Mike nodded. “Wait here.”

He took the bags and began walking off and Beth called out to him. “No, I, I can't stay.”

Mike stopped, and turned to her. “I've got a package for you.”

Beth frowned but nodded, she would wait but her heart rate accelerated. What on earth was she going to be given? What if it was more wrapping paper? Oh God! What would she do? But Mike came back with a small padded envelope.

“What’s this?” She asked.

Mike shrugged at her and turned his back. He was done. 

Beth walked away, back to her car with the package in her lap. She drove for a few miles until she came to a quiet looking diner and she parked up. She opened the package nervously to find an old style Nokia phone in it and a charger. The phone was dead so she walked into the diner, ordering a pie and a coffee and she sat in a booth with a plug socket, charging the phone. 

She turned it on, curious, and found one number in it. She took a breath and dialled it, holding the phone to her ear. 

It rang four times before there was a click and a moments silence and then a low warm purr.

“Elizabeth, you’re late.”

Beth sharply inhaled, her heart exploded, her world stood still. “Rio?”


	14. Queens and Kings -  Part Fourteen

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> RIO! Where have you been?

“It’s been seven months.”

Beth swallowed, in shock. This was real, this was happening, he was alive and speaking to her. “Rio?”

“Surprise, sweetheart. You weren’t expecting it?”

“It’s been seven months!”

He sounded so casual. “That’s just what I said, would have been six if you’d done what I asked.”

Beth choked out the words. “Where have you been? Where are you? Why didn’t you call or contact me? Why didn’t you tell me anything? Anything at all! Do you have any idea of what I’ve been through?”

Rio was silent.

“I didn’t even know if you were alive. I got Annie to ask your boys for news and no one said anything at all. I even befriended your housekeeper, although she was only nice as she pitied me.”

“Rosario’s a gem, an’ my boys know nothing.”

“I know what happened in the warehouse.”

Rio’s voice got a little steelier. “Oh you do, do you?”

Beth took a breath in, her voice faltered. “No, I, I don’t, I just know what, what was found.”

Rio was silent again and so Beth spoke, softly, overcome with emotion. “Rio, where the hell have you been? I’ve missed you. I miss you.”

“Elizabeth,” The way he said her name, her full name, it always sent shivers down her spine, “Where are you?”

Beth’s heart skipped a beat, was he nearby? “Canada, in some diner, near the craft store. Where are you?”

Rio sighed. “Much further away from you than I’d like to be.”

Beth closed her eyes for a moment. “I thought you’d forgotten about me.”

Rio exhaled heavily. “Really?”

“You knew my number, my email, my address, and you’ve been silent for seven months.”

“It was necessary. Some things, happened. I didn’t tell you to protect you. It was for the best.”

“I can handle myself Rio.”

Rio laughed at that. “Yeh, but I didn’t want anyone to handle you, so I took care of things.”

Beth swallowed. “You took care of seven people?”

The coldness came back. “Is that what you think?”

“I think you had to handle something after someone else created a mess.”

There was a moment of silence before Rio spoke. “So you do know me.”

“I thought I did, but you disappeared.”

They were both silent for a moment, not quite sure of themselves, or each other. It had been so long. 

Rio broke the silence, his voice was more gentle than it had been. “I hadn’t, you know.”

Beth swallowed. “Hadn’t what?”

“Forgotten you. Or stopped thinking ‘bout you. I haven’t. It’d be better if I had, for you an’ me, but I haven’t.”

Beth started to silently cry then, and little tear trails of streaky mascara slipped down her cheeks. She covered her mouth for a moment so he wouldn’t hear her sob. 

She took a breath, trying to steady her voice, before asking. “Can you come back?”

Rio exhaled loudly. “I dunno. A coupla' things need to be smoothed over.”

Beth sat up straighter. That wasn’t no. It wasn’t yes, but it wasn’t no.

“What things?”

“Elizabeth.” He said it more like a growl than a purr.

“I want to know so I can get you back here, can’t you understand that?”

He sighed before speaking. “We can’t speak properly over the phone.”

“You gave me a burner! It'll be fine.”

Rio laughed. “It’s ain’t never gonna be fully fine.”

“Then come and find me. Or tell me how to find you.”

“That’s not sensible.”

Beth shook her head. “Then why the hell did you call me?”

“You called me.”

Beth was getting exasperated. “Yes, on the phone you got Mike to give me!”

“Check-mate.”

Beth shook her head, frustrated at him. 

“I don’t want to play games with you, Rio. I’m tired of that. I’m tired of feeling rejected. I’m tired of aching for you. And I’m tired of you being the first thing I think of when I wake up and the last thing I think of in bed at night. I’m tired of you still not telling me anything and expecting me to understand. You’re such a such a smug bastard. Don’t you think I was patient with you? Don’t you think I was understanding? Wasn’t I the best fucking cleaner you ever had? Wasn’t our affair a good cover for you? Didn’t you enjoy spending time with me? So, don’t you think I deserve more than you playing stupid games with me now? It’s been seven months Rio. I didn’t think I would ever hear from you again and now that you have allowed contact, you’re acting like it’s just some joke. The fact that I’d fallen for you was just a joke? Was it all a game to you?”

Rio was silent. 

Beth audibly inhaled and wiped the tears from her face. He was a smug bastard. And she might have been under his spell, she might still be under his spell, but she had a family and a business and friends. She had survived seven painful months without him, thinking she would never hear from him again, and she had learned to live without him. She could survive without him.

He had been instrumental in her life for nearly two years, helping her, hindering her, but she wasn’t going to be something he discarded and picked back up when it was convenient. She would survive without him.

If he could leave her as he did, walk away and break her spirit then speak to her months later as if none of what they shared had mattered, then he was not the man she thought he was. It might take her years to recover from their love affair, from the feelings Rio had awoken in her, the feelings he ignited, the feelings that burned bright within her, but she would learn from this. She would survive without him.

His voice, full of raw emotion startled her out of her painful thoughts.

“My business was never a joke, you know that. I ran it like clockwork. Never room for error. An’ what I felt for you, what I feel for you, that ain’t no joke either. I knew I might have to leave an’ I didn’t want to, you think I ever wanted to leave you? Shit was happening and so I had to plan for every eventuality. Right to the point of the cellphone Elizabeth. Do you think that I been playing? If I didn’t care I would have just left, or I could have sent you a message though one of my boys, but I went to you. I went to you when the cartel were waiting for me. I made the goddamn cartel wait, so I could see you! None of that was a game. You think you’re the only one who’s been hurtin’? Do you have any idea what it’s been like for me? I been away from everything that matters to me, my family, my friends an’ yes, you. An’ I been thinkin’ all this time that you’ll go back to car-man, or you’ll find a single dad or some dick in a suit, cos they’re around an’ I ain’t.”

Beth almost shouted.“I don’t want a dick in a suit or my lying ex-husband, I just want you.”

The diner went quiet and Beth swallowed hard as she shrugged down in her seat, a bright blush forming on her tear stained cheeks. She turned to the wall, hiding her face from the other diners, cradling the phone against her cheek.

She could almost feel Rio’s smile. “Good.”

“You knew what I felt for you.”

“Yeh, well, it’s been months, an’ you thought I left you.”

Beth sighed. “You did.”

“An’ I been waiting a whole month with this cell in my pocket waiting for you to call me.”

Beth swallowed. He had told her sixth months, if only he told her why. “You should have told me why.”

“I had to follow plan A.”

“What was plan B?”

“Plan B was the aftermath of the cartel killing me. Plan C was the feds getting me, for real.”

Beth gasped, tears stinging her eyes again. “God, Rio.”

“It’s okay, we came to an agreement. I’m speaking to you, ain’t I?”

Beth nodded, tears falling down her face again. They were silent for a moment or two, Beth sniffing, until she used a napkin on the table to blow her nose. She swallowed before she spoke.

“So what now?”

“Now? I'm working from my hideaway on being legit.”

“No, what about us?”

Rio was silent for a moment and then started speaking again. He kept her on the phone for another twenty minutes and then he told her to go, to drive home. She’d had a shock and he didn’t want to worry about her driving back. She sat still in her seat for ten minutes after she had put the cell down on the table. He was right, she was in deep shock and the waiter took sympathy on her, bringing fresh coffee, water and more napkins so Beth could clean up. She got the napkins wet and wiped her face, looking in the little mirror she kept in her purse and she sipped some more coffee, grateful for the heat and caffeine. 

Rio had reached out to her. She swallowed hard and felt her heart expand with joy. Rio had reached out to her. 

 

\--------------

 

Seven weeks later it was early in May and Beth had got a lift from Annie when it was still dark to the train station, so she could get a train to the airport. Dean had the kids for a week away with his parents, visiting a theme park and camp site and so Beth had decided to visit a schoolfriend of hers in Seattle, so they could head to a retreat and do yoga and walk. Ruby and Annie both said they were envious, but they knew she needed the break. She’d been through so much over the last year, a week away was what she needed. 

Beth read a fair amount of one of the two novels she’d brought along for the five hour flight, and once she landed, she collected her small case and got into a car that was waiting for her in Seattle. She was confused when the driver took her to another part of the airport, so she could border a private charter flight.

She asked the air steward where they were going and they’d told her, saying it would take forty minutes. She didn’t admit she hadn’t heard of the place they were going to but accepted the glass of champagne they offered her, thinking it would sooth her nerves, though she sipped from a bottle of water too, she was feeling jittery enough as it was. She tried to distract herself by looking out of the small aircrafts windows, soaking up the views of water and green land but all she could think of was what would happen when she landed.

The flight hit the tarmac soon enough in a tiny, tiny airport. It wasn’t an airport really, just a landing strip and a building at one end of it. The steward helped her disembark, handing her case to her at the bottom of the stairs and the ground floor staff member said something to her, but was distracted by the person waiting for her only a few hundred feet away.

She walked towards him slowly. He’d grown a beard and his hair wasn’t as short as it had been. It was warmer here than back home, and he almost glowed as he stood in the late afternoon golden sunshine, his legs slightly apart. He was wearing a black v-neck t-shirt with his favoured chain and black jeans and black canvas sneakers. His skin was a little more tanned than when she’d last seen him and his eyes were hidden behind sunglasses. 

She stopped walking when she got a few feet from him, letting her suitcase standstill. He lifted his sunglasses up then, and their eyes met, coal black and bright blue. She swallowed as his eyes left hers to roam her body. She wore the silk dress she’d bought for their first date and he tilted his head to the side in recognition. He then looked into her eyes as he walked towards her, right up to her, into her personal space. 

She moved her hands from her sides and touched his chest, all hard, lean muscle under his t-shirt and she smoothed her hands up over his shoulders and down his bare arms and then he pulled her to him, against him, she was in his arms and their bodies were pressed together. Her head nestled in the crook of his neck, as his head rested on hers, his arms held her so tightly. They stood still, breathing in each others scent, feeling the potent electricity of their bodies connecting again.

He pulled back briefly, only to move his head as she moved hers and their lips met, gently at first and then his hands moved to her neck and jawline, cradling her face, and Beth sighed, relieved, and she opened her mouth as he opened his. Their tongues collided, sliding over and over, in an erotic claiming dance, tasting each other as their bodies pressed together. They kissed each other deeply, hungrily, not aware of anything else around them at that point, they just luxuriating in the feel of their tongues caressing, teasing, exploring and drinking in the others sweetness. Beth moaned into Rio’s mouth when he pushed his hips against her, letting her feel his hardness on her lower belly. 

And then, all too soon, he moved his body back from hers, his breathing ragged and Beth couldn’t help but pant, her lips still parted. He pulled his hands away from her face, keeping his blazing eyes locked on hers, watching her as she took a shallow breaths in, her cheeks flushed and pupils were as dilated as his. Their chemistry hadn’t faded away at all, the feelings they shared hadn’t died or shrunk, their desire and need for each other was brutally blatant. 

Rio reached for her hand, clasping it, claiming it, and he grabbed her case with his other hand, then without saying a single word, he’d pulled her gently and walked her to his pick up truck. He opened the door for her, helping her in and he put her case by her feet before he walked around to the drivers side.

They drove in silence, unable to speak yet, full of the charge of their chemistry, his hand on her thigh, her hand on his, and Beth kept on taking little glances at him as he did of her, still not fully believing they were together. After twenty minutes or so Rio pulled them off the road and onto a small track road, driving down it for about five minutes before they pulled off that and onto a neat little drive which led to a single story house made of white-washed wood. Beth could see the ocean around the side of it and she gasped.

Rio smiled at her, and jumped out of the truck, heading to her side to pull out her case and help her down. When their hands touched again, they both felt the spark and Rio gently pulled her to the house, unlocking and opening the door, closing it, putting her case down and then he turned to her and that was it. 

She was in his arms and he had lifted her off the floor, his hands gripping tight underneath her buttocks and then she was on a low bed and their shoes and clothes were off and he was lying on top of her, her legs parted as he lay in-between them. 

There were no foreplay preliminaries, no words, this was animalistic and basic need. Nine months apart, not knowing if they would ever be together again, if they would ever reunite, aching for the other person whilst trying to keep it together. They needed to be skin on skin, mouth on mouth. She needed to be filled by him and he needed to be full in her. 

Their eyes locked on one another, breathing short and shallow, and his cock pressed into her, she was wet and ready for him, and as he pushed all the way in, she couldn’t help but cry out, it had been months. He felt so hard and big, but she welcomed him, the joy of feeling the weight of all of him on her body and she lifted her hips and arched her back a little to accommodate his perfect cock, pressing her full breasts against the lean muscles of his chest. 

He had stilled once inside her, almost as if the sensation was too much for him to take and they both stared at the other, the feeling of being joined again, the rightness of this, the alabaster skin on honey skin, the intensity of their union. He took an audible breath in, waiting for her core to adjust to the size of him, he was hard as hell, and she was so wet for him but so tight. They lay still for a little while until she used her muscles to squeeze him inside her, her body telling him to move and he groaned then and started to pump.

In and out. In and out. He pressed his lips against hers and claimed her mouth, his tongue sliding in and out of her mouth just as his cock slid in and out of her. It was almost too intense. Beth moaned into his mouth, unable to keep quiet, but she wasn’t alone, he groaned and sighed with every thrust and pull back. As he kissed her, he moved his hands to the back of her neck, pulling at the hair at the base of her skull, she gasped, totally turned on, clinging onto his shoulders.

Their bodies together felt so charged, so deep, so erotic and so right. Beth closed her eyes for a moment but Rio moved a hand to her face, so she opened her eyes again, locking her bright blue eyes onto his coal black orbs. He wanted to share every moment of this with her. He kept his pace, moving a little faster only when he read the signs of her orgasm approaching. He then lifted her on top of him, keeping their rhythm, rocking their pelvis’ together, bringing her to the edge and she didn’t fight it, she came on him, crying out his name as the waves shook her over and over again. It was bliss. He was bliss.

Beth collapsed onto his chest, feeling like she was made of clouds, on a high, unable to move, to speak, her breasts pressed on his hard pecs, both of them now damp with sweat, and he kissed her forehead and smoothed her hair, saying her full name as his cock kept up pace inside her, pumping and thrusting, lifting their hips off the bed. Beth could sense his release was near and she managed to lift her head up and lock eyes with him as he came, spilling his seed deep inside her.

They lay in silence for a while, still connected, until Rio gently moved them, pulling out slowly as he lay them on their sides, facing each other, legs entwined, pulling the sheets over their cooling skin. Beth couldn’t help but beam at him. He really was way too gorgeous. She had almost forgotten about what his perfect body, muscular and lean, like a panthers, could do to her. The beard and slightly longer hair made him look a little more rugged, he could pass for a country hipster now rather than the city guy that he was.

“You suit this.”

“What?” His eyes twinkled and he looked questioningly at her. 

Oh, his voice. She almost sighed hearing him speak. “The wild look, you totally carry it off.”

He laughed. “Thought it was more appropriate for the area.”

“And what’s the area like?”

“Lots of sea. An’ green. An’ rain. Kinda rugged. The sea keeps it noisy, too much silence ain’t good for a city boy. But y’know,” He shrugged. “I miss my home. I miss my family, my friends. The good coffee shops an’ choice of restaurants. An’ you. I’ve missed every single thing ‘bout you. But you been with me the whole time.” Rio reached for her hand and put it on his heart. “You been in here, keeping me warm.”

Beth swallowed and tried to blink back the tears as she felt his heart beat under her palm but she couldn’t. He pulled her close as her tears fell, pressing her body against his, kissing her eyelids and her cheeks and her mouth and then their hands began exploring each others bodies, and their hips pressed again. They needed to feel one another as their desire burned bright. Beth’s tears had long since stopped as Rio reminded her again and again what pleasure was, what it was like to be with him. What it was like to be with her King.

 

\---------

 

It was dark when they got up, they drank some water and pulled on their clothes as Beth wanted to walk to the sea. Rio gave her an apple to eat, concerned about her blood sugar levels and they held hands as they walked in the darkness, towards the crashing waves. The air was sea-salty fresh and the sand soft under their feet, and Beth felt like she was dreaming. When she started to shiver Rio took them back to his place and lit a fire, making Beth sit by it, wrapped in a blanket, sipping a tea whilst he cooked a paella. He’d told her he was going to have to feed her up, that she had lost too much weight. She had dropped a dress size or two when he’d left, but she was slowly filling out again. 

They ate the delicious meal he’d prepared from scratch on the sheep skin rugs as the fire blazed, drinking white wine, with a window slightly open to let in the sea air and a jazz radio station crackled out Art Blakey in the background. Beth mopped up her plate with the bread Rio had bought fresh from the small town bakery that morning, and Rio looked could not have looked happier. He moved away their plates, his coal black eyes burning with desire as he pulled her to him, slipping off her clothes and kissing Beth all over before making slow and deep love to her, making her cry out his name and scratch his back. 

Beth woke up an hour or so after they had both dosed off, sated after their mutual and deep orgasms. Rio had pulled the blanket over them and the fire was on its last embers. Beth put some more logs in the stove and then crawled back under the blanket, seeking Rio’s warm body and his perfect scent. Oh, she had missed his smell. He stirred and pulled her under the crook of her arm.

“You feeling good, Mama?”

Beth smiled at that, it felt good to hear him use his nickname for her, he made Mama sound good. “Yes, I am. And you?”

“Best I’ve felt in nine months.”

She kissed him then and he sighed, appreciatively.

They had talked in the weeks leading up to their reunion, but hadn’t spoken about what had happened before Rio left. Why he had left. Instead he had asked her about her, her kids, Annie and Ruby. Was Sara well now? Was Beth thinking of moving? Yes was the answer, though when they sold the house they wouldn't exactly come away with money, Dean’s three mortgages had killed that. Beth wanted to start a fresh in a different house, but in the same neighbourhood so the kids could stay in their schools. She hadn’t bit the bullet just yet, she didn’t want to admit to him that she had stayed, worried that he might not find her if he came back. 

They lay in comfortable silence for a while before Rio spoke again. “You can ask me.”

Beth swallowed, she was lying on him, her face resting on his chest. “Why did you have to leave?”

He took a breath in before speaking quietly. “The cartel were expanding, the old boys in Detroit weren’t happy ‘bout it an’ I kept peace an’ space between them. But their messes kept on interrupting my business. You were clearing more than anything else was, an’ I was getting bored of dealing with certain aspects of the street side of things. But a boy of mine screwed up, an’ I was called into something bad. I had to make a decision. It meant handling business that wasn’t mine to handle, doing things that, well,” He was silent for a moment before continuing. “I made an enemy of old time locals but they gone now, an' I have a powerful ally in the cartel. But there was a lot of shit to deal with, some of the cartel wanted me gone, so I had to give them a share of my street deals to keep them happy. I figured things would be fine if I stayed but I found out my old accountant had been turned by the feds, she said she wanted a business an’ if I gave one to her, she wouldn’t give the feds anything. But they ain’t dumb. They’d have found something, and with my links to the cartel and the mob, there was too much heat on me an' on those that mattered to me. I had to leave.”

Beth was silent for a while, thinking about Rio hiding this and no doubt much more from her. That he hadn’t explained what happened in the warehouse meant that he didn’t want to tell her. She swallowed. “Why didn’t you contact me?”

“The FBI were on your case ‘bout me. You have a family, if they suspected anything, they would use it against you. It was better to keep it simple, keep you out of trouble. Besides, I had to make it look like we weren’t serious, or the cartel would have gone for you, or looked into your business and demanded their share of it. They were still spitting for blood for weeks. It wasn’t good. I wasn’t a good person to be near.”

“But you were good, for me and to me. You changed my life for the better, you helped provide me with my freedom. You made me see what I could be. I won’t judge you for what you had to do.”

Rio put his hand on her face then, made her look up. “You think that sweetheart, but I don’t want you to look at me in any other way than what you do now. Besides knowledge could get you locked up. You don't wanna do time when you got your babies. I know you got into business to take care of them, you told me enough times, so I wasn’t gonna let you go down or get hurt cos of me.”

Beth looked at Rio uncertainly. So much was swimming through her brain which was still finding it hard to focus after flying high from so many orgasms. He had made it very clear that he cared for her, that he wanted to protect her, and he had formed such an elaborate plan to get her here, calling her daily on the burner but she still felt the sting of him walking away. He had left without telling her anything and she had spent seven months suffering. 

Her silence made him speak again. 

“Elizabeth, it wasn’t a decision I made lightly. I did it because I cared. I did what I thought was best for you. Don’t for one-second think that it didn’t hurt me like hell.”

“You hurt me.”

He swallowed. “I know.” 

He pulled her close to kiss her gently, and she wrapped her arms around him. They stayed there for the night, falling asleep wrapped in each others arms, as the fire glowed on them.

 

\------------

 

They spent five days in Rio’s house, making sure each day they walked on the beach, or headed to the local nature reserve. Rio had made a habit of running to the towns bakery daily to pick up his newspapers and have a coffee, but with Beth there, he drove them both in. On their first morning Beth there together, the serving lady eyed her up very curiously. Rio had always been on his own and was charming if rather edgy for the town, a few of the ladies had secret crushes on him so it was natural for her to be intrigued by the lady who appeared at his side. Beth had blushed at the stares and when Rio had kissed her openly, introducing Beth as his girlfriend, and then she got even more embarrassed when she left, as she spotted the love bruises he’d left on her neck in a mirror behind the counter that she hadn’t noticed in the bathroom mirror back at his place earlier. 

But the town was sweet, Rio’s house was rustic and cosy and Rio was relaxed. He had a woodwork shed where he’d been working on a few pieces and the rest of the time he was working on expanding his legitimate businesses. He had shares in different companies and had invested money in businesses countrywide that he kept track of. The man was savvy and wise and he took care of his money and his interests. 

They spent as much time as they could reconnecting which meant having a lot of sex, so they spent endless hours naked in his bed, or by the fire, or sitting in the swing chair on his porch which proved difficult to have sex in after they had both fallen on the ground, but it was great to sit on wrapped up in blankets and each other, looking at the sea when they were both a little orgasm brain frazzled. 

They had done their best to make up for lost time, and several times on their walks on the beach she teased him so much that taken her into the sand dunes. She’d insisted on going on all fours as she didn’t want sand in certain areas, they’d both laughed at the combined sound of the waves crashing, seagulls screeching, their joint pleasure moans and his thighs slapping on her buttocks. She’d given him head in a secluded woody area in the nature reserve one afternoon, rubbing her hand over the crotch of his jeans, popping the button and unzipping him slowly as he bit his bottom lip in anticipation. She had freed his cock, stiff and trying to point up to the sky from the confines of his boxer briefs, before teasing his tip with her tongue and firmly planting her hand on his base. She pursed her lips tightly together and moved them over his shaft, flicking her tongue on the underside of his cock as she let him fuck her mouth, letting him go as deep as he could without gagging her. He was so turned on by the sight of her on her knees in the woodland he wanted her to share the pleasure, so he had lifted her up and fucked her against a tree but their antics where cut short as he had to quickly make her run with him, their jeans undone, when they heard people walking nearby. 

They spent the next hour walking back, hand in hand laughing like naughty teenagers before finishing what they started in Rio's bedroom.

Beth felt like she’d lost a decade or two when with she was with him. There was something about him, something about their connection. They just worked together. They were good together. He was smart, he felt less dangerous here, not that he had scared her for a long time, but here he wasn’t so stressed, he wasn’t checking his phone constantly. He was present. And they were total equals.

He had told her he would drive her back to Seattle and they took their time and stopped off in places. He had arranged a stay in a fancy hotel for their last night and booked a full body massage for Beth, which made her feel like bliss before they went out for dinner in the city. When they got back, they made love in the giant hotel bed. Because it was love. It felt like love to Beth.

The next morning he’d woken her by lifting her onto his hard cock and giving her two orgasms before he carried her into the shower, setting it to the heat she liked best and he then fucked her roughly against the tiles, pinning her hands up above her head, leaving bite marks on her skin and painfully pleasuring her orgasm overdosed body, doing as much as he could to remind her of how it was between them, to give her something gentle and hard to take away. But she didn’t need to be reminded, she already knew what it was between them. She was still totally besotted by him. 

He’d booked her a taxi from the hotel foyer at 10, and they kissed deeply by the taxi door. He pulled back from their kiss, stroking her face, but then he licked his bottom lip, looking into her eyes as he spoke.

“I love you, Elizabeth.”

She looked back at him, wide eyed in shock and he just smiled at her, and opened the taxi door. She was so surprised she didn’t say it back, she just allowed herself to be manoeuvred into the taxi. He’d shut the door behind her and the taxi was about to drive off but she cried out. “Wait!”

She opened the door, stepping out onto the sidewalk to pull him to her, and kiss him deeply. 

“I love you, Rio.” 

She beamed at him and laughed, full of joy, before she slipped quickly back in the taxi, leaving him on the sidewalk, smiling like a cheshire cat.


	15. Queens and Kings -  Epilogue

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> COMPLETE... And so this is the final chapter of K&Q! Thank you all so much for reading it, for commenting, for being so lovely and encouraging and gentle with me on my first fanfic! I hope the ending isn't too cheesy for you but I love to tie things up! <3

Exactly one year after Rio disappeared, he re-appeared back in Beth’s kitchen, sat on the kitchen island, legs dangling over the edge, newspaper in hand. His gun was not on the counter this time. Or in his hand. Beth had dropped her groceries on the floor and rushed to him and they hugged and kissed as she said, ’you’re back!’ over and over again at him, laughing as he picked her up to carry her into the bedroom.

He promised her that he wasn’t leaving again this time.

The Detroit boys had been silenced by the cartel, the cartel appreciated the streets Rio had given to them, the FBI had moved on to other people of interest as Rio had left town and left them with nothing, which meant that Rio could finally move back home and start working again, as a mostly legitimate businessman. Mostly. He had lots of legitimate investments to deal with on a daily basis but he still had an illegal side hustle going on, though nothing like his last empire.

Beth had found a new home for her and the children thanks to the sizeable deposit she had from the cash she'd cleaned. Although it was a little smaller than her old place, the attic had been converted into two bedrooms so Jane and Kenny went up there, leaving a spare bedroom on the first floor. Rio stayed over three nights a week at first, keeping his own place, letting the kids get used to him, but after a few months, when the kids were a little more used to it, three nights turned into every night. 

Occasionally visitors came around to see Rio, visitors who were tattooed all over, or super fierce looking, who arrived on Harley’s or in fancy Cadillacs and they would disappear into Rio’s woodshed, taking mugs of coffee and a plate of cookies forced upon them by Beth from the kitchen of the main house. The neighbours and kids got used to these occasional strange visitors, and when spoken to the men and women were actually always very polite and very civil.

When they had discussed what the future held for them both in his sea view house, Rio had been honest to Beth. He said that he hadn’t been sure if he would have his own family, because the nature of his business made it dangerous to have people who were too close to him or too dependant on him. It was difficult to ask a lover, a woman that he respected and cared for into that. It would be even more difficult to raise small humans in an environment which was dangerous. It was easier to have lovers or girlfriends that he could step away from, detach himself from to keep them all safe. It was easier to be with women who were a little more obvious and basic with there needs, women who would not ask anything of him, but the thing was, trying to remain detached meant that you stopped making connections. That you stopped feeling. That dating someone became meaningless.

Beth had come into his life and they should not have worked together or worked out together. They should not have been suited at all but she had managed to reach him, to reach under his armour, without trying, without even wanting to. She made him think more clearly, made him see things differently, she frustrated him and thrilled him. He had fallen hard for her before he even knew it, before she got him arrested and way before they had slept together. But after they had become lovers, the more time he spent together with her and the more he held back from her, the more it hurt him. 

On their last morning together in Seattle he had told her that she made him sleep far more easily, that she brought peace to him when no one else ever had, and when nothing else could. He told her he would be back in Detroit soon, and if she could wait three months for him to return, he would very much like to take her and all her kids, as his partner and her family, to his brothers wedding, so she could meet all of his family. Beth had nodded, smiling, wanting to believe it, but when she received an actual invitation in the post for the wedding, she had swallowed hard. Rio meant it. He had said he was done with pretending to be a player. He’d told her he had met his match. That he didn’t want second best. That he wanted his Queen Elizabeth.

And so he came back home for her.

Annie and Greg accidentally got pregnant on the night they finally decided to just be co-parents and to stop sleeping with each other. After a few months of being difficult about where to live, they eventually decided on an apartment with a garden roof terrace that wasn’t too far from Saul’s school. Not a replica of the house he’d shared with Nancy, nor like of any of the places Annie had lived in. It was clean, industrial on the outside and homely but spacious on the inside. It was perfect. Once they had moved back in together they each kept a room to themselves that they could retreat into and to both of their surprise, it all worked. Greg was dependable and annoyingly clean and Annie still messed up and was messy, but she was wise and warm and had the biggest heart. Saul, the name Sadie had taken because it was what Greg’s Grandpa had been called, coped as well as they could with their teenage hormones, parents that had reunited but still bickered. The baby brother that came along brought them all so much joy.

Ruby and Stan had long since ironed out their difficulties and moved into a bigger house on the edges of their old neighbourhood. Stan had accepted why Ruby did what she was did, he didn’t understand how she could have done it but she saved their daughters life and had kept him out of it to protect him. That she had actually set up a legitimate and successful business (he was still in the dark about so much of what Ruby had really been involved in and to be honest, he didn’t want to know) and that Ruby was doing so well made him proud as he rose through the ranks at the DPD. He proudly attended functions with his smart business wife who was studying for her Human Resources bachelor degree as her new side hustle. Ruby frequently told Annie and Beth that her new side-hustle was the hardest thing she had ever been involved with. Sara had fully recovered and had become more of the smart and sassy young lady she had always promised to be, keeping Ruby on her toes as Harry kept her on her toes with his pranks.

Beth and Rio had their own hands full a year after Rio had moved in as after many, many, many discussions, Beth had her IUD removed. Rio was keen to have one child and she wasn’t opposed, just afraid of having baby number five in her early forties, knowing that the sleepless nights would be a killer, that her hormones would be all over the place and that her body would be huge and heavy and make her beyond tired, which was going to be hell with four kids. 

She fell pregnant straight away and Rio proved himself to be more than capable by taking over many of the duties with the kids. He also made her go to weekly yoga classes, got her onto a super healthy eating plan to help her energy levels (‘no cakes sweetheart, the sugar’ll make you crash’), dragged her along to the gym with him four times a week so whilst he worked out for an hour she could swim, and he got them all to go on weekend walks as a family. 

Rio benefitted soon enough from his efforts as after the first trimester had passed, Beth’s hormones made her super horny, which was a side effect she hadn’t had in her other pregnancies and it basically meant she demand Rio have sex with her at every single opportunity everyday. By week 36 her hormones had started to settle and Rio was grateful for the extra sleep before the scheduled arrival of their baby girl at 38 weeks. 

Beth had been in the best physical shape she had ever been in any of her pregnancies by the time she had her caesarian, and had found her pregnancy and the recovery strangely easier than she had expected.

Her kids had surprisingly been more than okay with the news of an impending baby sister. They thought Rio was cool and liked living with him. He was always Rio and always fair to them, he had made it clear that he was not there to replace their Dad but he would always do the right thing by them. Beth began to notice that more often than not, they would go to his woodshed when they wanted to talk something over and she felt so lucky and grateful for the way in which things had turned out.

Ruby had freaked out at the news of Beth being pregnant repeatedly screeching, ‘girl you are outta your mind’ and it took three vodkas and two danish to calm her down. But she had to admit Rio had done everything he said he would, that he supported Beth and took care of her and her children, so she shrugged. 

Her panic was more about having run their business on her own, but Annie and Beth had managed to time their pregnancies so that neither of them were on maternity leave at the same time. They got a tough no-nonsense old acquaintance of Rio’s to come in and cover the 14 months they would both be gone, only she was so good, Ruby gave her a permanent position.

Beth had organised a large afternoon party for Rio’s family and friends when he turned 40, naughtily hosting it at one of the old warehouses that he loaned out. She’d organised three different caterers, an indoor and outdoor garden area for adults complete with mini-golf, a giant play area for the kids with a bouncehouse, and found a decent mariachi band though she let Rio’s brother sort out a DJ. 

Rio knew she’d organised a party but had no idea of the scale of it, and pulled her aside after he done the rounds of saying hello to everyone, from his family and close friends to his associates and gang boys, from his lawyer and accountant and new neighbours to the wood-shop craft collective and his tattoo shop workers, from Beth’s girls to some of her best secret shoppers, all were greeted warmly whilst he cradled their dozing six month old baby girl his arm.

His face was expressionless as he stood closely to Beth. “You did all this?”

Beth swallowed, fearing he hated it. “Yes?”

The corners of his mouth curled up in a smile. “Ain’t no one organised a party for me in 28 years.”

“Well, it was about time then.”

He looked around the room. “Never thought I’d see teachers an’ gangbangers mingling and playing mini-golf together like it’s no big deal. We’re missing the cartel though.”

Beth shrugged. “Your contact was indisposed today, but they sent 40 bottles of champagne to you.”

Rio laughed. “Right.”

He stepped closer to her, his eyes bright and leant sideways to not disturb the baby as he kissed her gently on the lips. “Thank you, Elizabeth, mi Reina, thank you.”

She smiled at him. “Anything for you, Rio, mi Rey.” 

Rio’s eyes shone in approval and desire and they kissed again deeply, before a friend of Rio’s cleared their throat nearby, wanting to say hello and hand over a gift. Rio looked at Beth apologetically but she shrugged, it was his party, his time to enjoy some attention. She would spend time alone with him later, in their bedroom, when the kids were in bed and the baby was down. Rio had seen the underwear she had put on that morning so he knew he wasn’t going to have a quiet night.

Beth looked around for her kids who were playing with Saul and then she spotted Annie at the bar with Ruby, so she walked towards them.

“Hey girl!” Annie handed Beth a margarita. “This is super impressive! Greg’s totally the allocated driver and baby looker-afterer this afternoon.”

“Mmm-hmmm, Stan is also on child duty.” Ruby agreed as she sipped her cosmopolitan.

“Ladies, do you know what day it is?”

Annie raised her eyebrows at Beth. “Err, your lovers, aka ex-something-boss’s 40th birthday?”

Beth beamed at Annie and Ruby. “Yes, but it is also the four year anniversary of our ‘Fine and Frugal’ special shopping trip.”

“No way!” Annie gasped.

Ruby thought about it for a moment and then shook her head. “That crazy talk is true. Damn! How, prophetic?”

“Exactly! Who would have thought four years ago that we’d end up here, hey?” 

“Not me, sisters, but I’m gonna toast to us, to our badness, to our goodness, to our health, our families and all our prosperity.” Annie raised her glass, Ruby and Beth joined her and they all cheered.

Beth felt someone looking at her intently, so she turned her head slightly, meeting Rio’s dark, shining, warm gaze as he looked her up and down before biting his bottom lip. Oh, she would be in for treat later, she found herself blushing slightly and she smiled back at her King. Things had worked out far better than she could have ever planned for.


End file.
